The new Professors
by LovePeaceSpiritAlive
Summary: Harry and Ron don't want to leave their girlfriends alone at Hogwarts but practically passed their NEWTs. Time to call in the new Professors!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

Ron and Hermione were looking in shock and awe at Harry, there were tears in their eyes. He had just finished explaining how and why he had walked in to the forest to die for everyone. Who his last thoughts were of; how he had survived the killing curse for a second time; chosen to come back from the dead; made his way to a duel with Voldermort; and, after all they had been through, how he defeated him for the last time.

There was silence for several minutes as they tried to assimilate all he had told them. Hermione was still struggling to stop the tears flowing but Ron seemed to be fighting an internal battle with himself, clearly something was bothering him.

'Spit it out Ron.' said Harry.

'What?' he replied.

'Whatever it is that is bothering you. I'm tired, I need some sleep and I don't want to have to wait for a couple of days for you to tell me.' Harry rubbed his eyes, trying to remove the itching sensation that was telling him that he was several days overdue for a good long sleep.

'Whatareyourintentionstowardsmysister?' he blurted out.

'eh?' Harry looked confused

'What are your intentions towards my sister?' he managed at a slower pace this time.

He looked Ron straight in the eyes 'I love her.'. There was a determination in his voice that Ron had only recently heard when Harry was talking about their mission to bring down Voldermort. 'The thought of her kept me going through the last eight months.' He paused. 'I died for her in the forest tonight, and seeing as how I survived, I intend to live for her now as well.'

Hermione dissolved in a fresh bout of tears Ron just look shocked as if a bludger had just smacked him on the back of the head. Harry thought that he was doing a very good impression of a goldfish when Hermione said 'Harry, have you actually told Ginny any of this?'

He sighed 'Not yet.' he said 'But I want to tell her everything when I do.'

'WHAT!' exclaimed Ron as his head snapped up, 'Even the horocruxes?'

'Certainly he should.' They looked round and saw the portrait of Dumbledore smiling at them. 'And may I suggest our new Minister for Magic and Minerva also sit in on the meeting? It is important that those who are now in charge of our world know the full story of Tom Riddle.

Ron's mouth snapped shut. 'What about the Hallows?' he asked.

Hermione nudged him in the ribs 'Ron.'

'Ah yes' said Dumbledore ignoring Ron's sudden discomfort. 'That decision I leave to you three.'

Harry looked up at the portrait. 'More secrets Professor?'

'That is up to you.' he said ' But if you truly want the Elder Wand to pass in to history quietly then perhaps it is time for the truth behind story to do likewise.'

'I understand Professor' said Harry, resigned to the fact that he would have to keep some secrets even though he hated the idea of concealing things from others. He could see the wisdom in this case. 'Well' Harry started, 'the Stone I dropped in the woods somewhere as I went to face Tom. I'd say that it's pretty well hidden and I have no inclination to go back to try and find it.'

'Very good Harry, if I may say so, an eminently sensible decision.'

Harry nodded and continued 'The Cloak' He paused thinking briefly about his parents 'The Cloak I will keep I think. It's one of the few links I have to my parents. However…' He turned to Ron and Hermione 'As far as the rest of the wizarding world is concerned, this is just a normal invisibility cloak that happened to belong to my father.'

'We understand Harry.' said Hermione with softness in her voice.

'Finally the elder wand...'

He paused to look at it properly for the first time, it looked so ordinary and plain but in his mind's eye though, he could see otherwise. All the blood that had been spilt because of it over the years seemed to have seeped into the wood giving it a foreboding deep red tinge. The power was evident to him as his hand felt strangely warm where it came in contact with the wands and he quickly drew his thoughts away from the accursed wand. He drew the piece's of his own wand out of the moleskin pouch round his neck and placed them on the headmasters desk.

Gripping the elder wand firmly he waved it over the pieces whispering 'Reparo' the two pieces started glowing and then the broken sections moved together. As they met, they could see the splinted ends knitting back around each other until the wand was whole again. The glow faded and Harry reached down to pick his old wand up again. As his fingers connected with his, now repaired wand; he felt the familiar responsive feeling he had first felt seven years ago in Ollivander's shop.

He carefully placed the elder wand on the desk. Harry might have imagined it but he thought it felt slightly angry. He looked at it with a mixture of disgust and awe on his face.

'Now I have my wand back in one piece, the elder wand is going back where Voldemort took it from.' there was a fierce determination in his voice this time. 'If I die naturally then the wands power will be broken and the easiest way to do that if for it to disappear. There is already too much Blood on that wand and if the remaining death eaters find out what it is and that I have it then they will just keep hunting me. I've had enough of that to last a lifetime already.'

Ron sighed with Longing, looking at the wand but before he could say anything Hermione interrupted his train of thought. 'You're Right Harry. It has to be this way.' she squeezed Ron's hand

Ron Looked at Hermione 'I guess you're right, but you have to admit that an unbeatable wand is tempting.'

'That's the real problem Ron it's too tempting for any witch or wizard who might want to take power. Let us all agree that the wand disappears now. We'll return it to Dumbledore's tomb and never mention it again. It can drift out of history and that will be the end of its power.'

'You're right Harry.' Said Ron with a final sigh as Hermione indicated her agreement as well.

'Harry!' Said Dumbledore's portrait with a tear in his eye 'I couldn't have thought of a better solution myself, yet again you demonstrate a maturity beyond your years.'

'I'll need to tell Ginny as well though.' said Harry looking at the portrait. Ron looked up in surprise.

'By all means make an exception for Miss Weasley. She deserves to know and it might just save you from that Bat Bogey hex I hear she favors. 'He smiled with amusement at Harry's obvious surprise at his knowledge of Ginny's favorite curse. 'Oh and one other thing, I believe we can drop the Professor, I'd much prefer Albus, Merlin knows you three have earned it.'

Harry was still slightly dumbstruck but Hermione, who by this time had managed to get over her tears, said 'I think I speak for all of us when I say Thank you Prof... Albus. 'She nodded towards the portrait. 'Come on Harry, time for you to go and find Ginny.'

* * *

As they walked towards the Great hall, Harry noted with a wry amusement that Ron had taken Hermione's hand. It was pretty clear what his intentions towards her were after all these years. However Ron was obviously still having some problems with Harry's declared intentions towards his sister. Harry could make out the not very whispered conversation going on between the two of them.

'But he dumped her...'

'To protect her.'

'She might not want him back'

'She does, trust me on this.' Ron looked a little shocked at this.

'But I'm supposed to look out for her.' Ron said.

'Not anymore my darling...' She kissed him full on the lips and Harry realised at that point, Ron had lost this one. No matter what else he might try to drag up, this was one-nil to Hermione. Ron was clearly enjoying the kiss as he eagerly responded. Harry quickly turned his back and moved away. Watching Ron lose the argument was worth the eavesdropping but seeing how, that was more information than he wanted at that point.

A minute or so later Ron and Hermione joined him, looking a little breathless as they entered the Great Hall together.

* * *

Harry searched the hall for one person, a certain red head. He spotted Ginny with her family and started to move towards her. As she spotted him her eyes turned to flint and she started to reach for her wand. ~uh oh~ thought Harry but to his surprise Hermione stepped between then and took Ginny's arm. She fought a little and tried to get around Hermione for a clear shot at Harry but Hermione wouldn't let her. 'A quick word Ginny?' she said, ' Before you hex the hero of the battle from here to kingdom come?' Ginny gave in with bad grace and let Hermione lead her away.

'I guess we'd better find McGonagall and Kinsley then.' said Ron

'Eh what?' said Harry clearly still confused over Ginny's reaction.

'Come on.' said Ron, and led him away.

They found them shortly afterward in close conversation with Arthur Weasley and several others from the order. 'Harry! Pleased to see you're alright.' said Mr Weasley 'Although I think that might be because you haven't bumped into Ginny yet.' he winked at Harry.

'I don't know what you mean.' he said

'Oh I've been cooped up with a certain daughter of mine for the last few months. I can tell you she was mightily annoyed with you. Between the bouts of depression and worry that is. Now what are your intentions towards my daughter?' he asked.

Harry looked at Ron who at least had the decency to look embarrassed. 'Now I know it runs in the family.' he said to Ron.

'My intentions are decent Mr Weasley. I was dating Ginny last year but I broke it off last summer to try and protect her while I was on my quest. I was worried that Voldermort... ' at this a number of the wizards and witches in the group flinched '... would attack her to get at me. Now that Tom Riddle is dead I would very much like to make her acquaintance again.'

Mr Weasley smiled 'Molly and I hoped that would be the case but I feel bound to warn you that she is still more than a bit put out with you over the quest and Merlin knows what else. A word from the wise, don't let her get up a head of steam or you'll be making your explanations from behind those bat bogeys...'

Harry was a little shocked at Mr Weasley's candor but he covered it well, 'Well Sir, I'll take that under advisement, but Hermione is currently talking to her. I'm sure that she will straighten it out.'

'I wouldn't bet on it son. Hermione might manage to keep the bat bogies off you for about five minutes, I suggest that you make them count.'

This time, Harry failed to cover his shock, and it was his turn to do the goldfish impressions.

'I've been with Molly for over twenty years now, trust me, there are certain traits that breed true. Now go, and good luck!'

Ron smiled, 'He's right you know Harry. Don't let her build up a head of steam.'

As Harry turned to leave he turned back, 'Minister, Headmistress? I need to speak with you as well.' Kinsley and McGonagall looked a little confused but followed Harry from the hall.'

'Headmistress, can I use your office again?' Harry asked.

'What for?' She asked.

'Well Dumbledore, well at least Dumbledore's portrait and I think that you should know about what Tom Riddle did to try and avoid death. It might be important in the future to prevent another dark lord like Voldermort rising.' Harry said quietly so that only Kingsley and McGonagall could hear him. He was pleased to note that Kingsley didn't bat an eyelid at Harry's use of the name, even though McGonagall shuddered slightly.

* * *

'Hermione, I am thankful that he defeated Voldermort but that doesn't escape the fact that he abandoned me for a year, he tried to make me stay behind during the battle and then made me, no made all of us believe he was DEAD!' Ginny ranted, 'Trust me, when I've finished he'll wish he was!'

Hermione could see she was very angry and to be fair, she had a couple of valid points. However she owed it to Harry to try to defuse Ginny's temper.

'You do know why he did those things don't you?' she said.

'NO!' Ginny snapped 'and that's the problem. He never tells me anything! You, Ron and he are always off together sharing secrets and keeping the rest of us in the dark. I guess you picked that trick up from Dumbledore?'

Hermione sighed, 'No we didn't, although it was on his orders that we didn't tell anyone else what we were doing last year or what we were looking for.'

'Typical!' Ginny shouted 'So you're going to be all "dark and mysterious" at me then, just like Harry.' She grabbed her wand and began to cast the bat bogey hex.

~Oh Merlin~ thought Hermione and promptly used the only line that she knew would calm Ginny down.

'He loves you.' she said quietly.

'WHO!' shouted Ginny

'Harry...' whispered Hermione.

Her wand dropped to her side and for the second time in the evening, a Weasley impersonated a goldfish. 'Bu... Bu... Bu...' Ginny didn't seem to be able to make herself speak.

'Harry is coming over here to tell you everything. The whole story. What we were looking for, why we needed to keep it so secret and most importantly what really happened tonight in the forest.'

Ginny recovered her voice 'What do you know Hermione?' Ginny asked in a more normal tone of voice. 'More than you do right now and, I suspect, less than you will in an hour or so if you let Harry speak to you.'

She looked at Ginny 'He never stopped thinking about you.' she said quietly. Ginny looked at her, surprised. 'Oh, he didn't talk about it openly but he did spend a lot of time brooding and looking at the marauders map while he was guarding the tent. Trust me he broke up with you for exactly the reasons he said. Right now I would guess that he is desperate to make things up to you.'

Hermione's words cut into Ginny deeply. Everything she'd hoped and wished for! Her bottom lip started to quiver just before she threw herself into Hermione's arms. She sobbed for several minutes until finally she surfaced from Hermione's, now notably wet shoulder.

'I should hex him into next week.'

'Maybe' said Hermione, mysteriously smiling while she said so.

'Okay' she said 'I'll listen to him before I hex him.'

'That's all I ask.' said Hermione as she led Ginny back to the main hall.

'Oh' Hermione said 'Don't be too upset when you decide you don't really need to Hex him.'

* * *

Harry walked passed Ginny and said 'Coming?' he held up a finger 'On the condition that I don't get hexed until I have had a chance to explain myself? '.

Ginny looked at him 'Okay Potter, you've got yourself five minutes...'

* * *

They approached the headmistress's office. Harry stopped. 'Minister, Headmistress, May I have five minutes with Ginny first? '

'You seem very sure of yourself Potter' growled Ginny.

'Trust me.' he said and then started to climb the stairs.

'Not likely!' she muttered under her breath but did climb the stairs to the headmistress's office.

* * *

'Well' Said Kinsley ' Nice weather were having isn't it?'

McGonagall looked at him in shock. 'At a time like this!' she said ' YOU' poking him in the stomach 'want to talk about the weather?'

'It's called small talk.' said Kingsly ' and I'm practicing for all the official functions I'll be forced to attend as minister if they make my appointment permanent.' As he spoke he started to fumble with a piece of paper.

'And what is that?' said McGonagall.

'Ah yes'. said Kingsley, 'This is Arthur Weasleys show of solidarity with his bretherin or to you and me, the reversal charm for a bat bogey hex.'

'She wouldn't!' Said McGonagall, her hands pressed against her cheeks.

'She might' said Kinsley. 'Unfortunately, someone has just cast a muffalo charm on your office so we won't know for sure until either we are invited in or Harry runs from the office chased by bats.

* * *

Harry waved his wand casting a muffalo charm non-verbally. Ginny raised her eyebrows 'Show off.' she said. Harry smiled.

'Where do you want me to start?' he asked.

She looked at him and almost forgave him on the spot, almost... 'What are your intentions Potter?' she growled out. 'First, you break it off with me, and then I hear nothing... NOTHING for eight months' ~uh oh~ thought Harry, here comes that head of steam. 'Then, when I DO see you again you try to wrap me in cotton wool before making me think you were DEAD!'

'I'm Sorry.' Harry said quietly.

'SORRY!, IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY!' she shouted. ~Definitely steam there~ thought Harry. Ginny took another deep breath, ready to launch into another tirade against him.

Whatever it was she was going to say never got said as Harry, mindful of her father's warning, took her in his arms and looked into her eyes. She looked back and could see the pain and suffering of the last eight months etched into them. Her heart melted when she also saw his love for her there as clear as day. The two pools of green became, for a minute her whole world as she lost herself in them.

Harry for his part, was watching her eyes warily. He saw her emotions flicker between fight and love and back again, but slowly moving to a look of love as she finally surrendered to the feelings that they had for each other.

His next move was automatic. He slowly moved towards her and kissed her, putting all his love and care into the kiss. Ginny was taken by surprise but almost immediately returned the kiss, losing herself in the warm feeling of Harry and her together.

This felt right. Something connected between them and suddenly the kiss became more intense, more real. They lost themselves in each other and started to move as one.

As they separated, Ginny started to breathe again. It seemed like hours had passed but glancing at the clock she could see it was only a minute or so.

Harry looked at her hopefully 'I think that answers your first question.' he said. Ginny looked at him, her mind still wanted to stay angry and hex him good and proper but her heart was overriding her mind which was fighting a rearguard action as the anger retreated.

She smiled 'So your intention was to kiss me?'

'Oh I intend to do a lot more than kiss you.' he said. Ginnys legs started to quiver. 'But for the moment I can only tell you that I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.'

Ginnys mind surrendered, the anger that had powered her up to the office and to within a minute or so of hexing Harry dissolved ~He loves me~ she thought ~HARRY LOVES ME!~ her heart sang out and then she heard her voice say 'And I love you too Harry.'

She looked up to see a silly grin on his face and for the first time since she'd seen Harry again he actually looked happy. Then she realised that the same silly grin was also plastered on her face. They looked at each other and then threw themselves into each others arms, both muttering 'I love you's' in each others ears.

'Ahem.' They parted and looked around before Harry's gaze settled again on Dumbledore's portrait.

'Yes Albus?' said Harry

'I believe that you and Miss Weasley have used ten of the five minutes that you asked Kingsley and Minerva to wait for you.'

Harry looked at his watch 'Whoops!' he grinned. Ginny for her part was trying furiously not to blush. 'I guess I'd better invite them up then.'

Dumbledore grinned back 'In your own time Harry, in your own time...'

Ginny failed to stop the blush this time and was, Harry thought, amazingly cute when she did. He noted that she wasn't the only one blushing either. He took her hand and said 'We'll have more time later.' Almost as an afterthought he added 'The rest of our lives in fact.'

This only made Ginny blush harder. 'I'll get you for that Potter.' she said.

'I certainly hope so.' said Harry smiling as Ginny laughed and removed the muffalo charm.

* * *

'Okay, we've established that the weather is nice for this time of year, and that the Cannons are not likely to win a match this season.' said McGonagall 'what else is there in your repartee of small talk?'

Kinsley looked slightly embarrassed 'Erm, that's it.' he admitted, 'I'm, or at least was, an Auror. We don't go in for small talk. Generally we used to move straight on to wands out and shields up in my line of work.'

'Well' she said 'That'll make those tedious Ministry functions shorter then.' She flashed a smile at him

Kinsley grinned 'That it will.' he chuckled 'That it will.'

They stood for few minutes straining to try to hear anything through the Charm then suddenly the Gargoyle slumped aside.

'I assume that's our invitation' said Kingsley. 'As I see no sign of Harry, I also assume that I won't need this.' and put Mr Weasley's spell back in his pocket.

'Ladies first.' He smiled and followed McGonagall up to her office.

* * *

As the Minister and the Headmistress entered the office they could tell something was different between Harry and Ginny. Apart from the fact they were holding hands, there was something about them, almost a glow that surrounded them.

'Now then, Mr Potter and Miss Weasley.' said McGonagall, 'I take it that I can assume you have resolved your differences?' They nodded. Harry was still grinning and Ginny still had a healthy blush.

'Then let me be the first to congratulate you.'

Kinsley looked at them both 'Indeed, it looks like whatever you said Harry certainly appears to have stopped Ginny from hexing you to hell and back, rather the opposite effect I think.' He grinned at them.

'Oh I'll be keeping the hexing option in reserve.' said Ginny 'Just in case.' She grinned at them as Harry started to look nervous but Kingsley simply laughed and Harry relaxed a bit.

'So then.' said McGonagall 'What did you want to tell us about Harry?'

After quickly casting the muffalo charm, again non-verbally, earning him an interesting look from both McGonagall and Kingsley, he said 'Okay for this one time only I will explain where Ron, Hermione and I have been for the last year and what we were doing. Dumbledore and the three of us believe that the information is so dangerous that the fewer who know the full truth the better. As Minister and Headmistress you both need to know the full story but we will leave it to your discretion as to what you tell the rest of the wizarding community.' He took a deep breath 'Ginny needs to know to help her understand why I had to leave her last year and why I want her back now and also so that there are no more secrets between us.'

Ginny's eyes widened, not just at Harry's clear and public indication that he certainly wanted her in his life but also at his maturity. Obviously he had grown a lot over the last year. She shed a small tear over what she had missed, but resolved that she would make it up to him this year and for the rest of her life ~where had that come from?~ Was she already thinking in those terms, she and Harry together for the rest of their lives? She tried to put the thought to the back of her mind and continued to listen to what Harry was saying.

He started off by covering the Horocruxes, what they were and how they were created. McGonagall's face went white as he explained about the process of creating them. Kingsley nodded along, as an Auror he was broadly aware of what they were but he'd never seen one in the flesh. Oddly, Ginny didn't seem to be too shocked either but then she'd owned one for most of her first year before Harry destroyed it, saving her life into the bargain.

He quickly sketched in the life of Tom Riddle that had been shown to him in pieces by Dumbledore and then the true story of what happen on the Astronomy tower last year. They were all shocked to find out some of the truth about Severus Snape ~If that shocks them, wait until they get the full truth~ he thought.

He paused for a minute and then ploughed on through the last year, finding the remaining horocruxes and destroying them. He recalled the many lonely nights doing guard duty and thinking of Ginny and of how those thoughts had kept him going when the quest seemed hopeless. Ginny gripped his hand harder at these points, constantly fighting back the tears as she began to realise just how much leaving her behind had cost him. McGonagall and Kingsley were equally stunned by the depth of Harry's feelings for Ginny.

Finally, he reached the Battle; how he had got into the castle and then every action slowly taking him step by step closer to that meeting with Voldermort in the woods. Harry had indeed been right about the shock they all got when he detailed the full truth about Severus Snape, what he had shown Harry and the implications for Harry's survival. Kingsley gave a low whistle, and he briefly interrupted Harry's story saying 'I can tell you now Harry that the truth about Severus is one thing that we will be telling the press', Harry simply said 'Thank you.' in a serious tone of voice and pushed on.

He detailed the lonely walk under his cloak of invisibility to the forest; of passing Ginny and pausing knowing he could not speak to her if he was to keep enough of his willpower to continue the trip. Ginny was crying like she had never cried before. Tears streamed openly down her face but she forced herself to sit and listen to the rest of the story. She was dreading what she would hear next. After the cruel prediction of Harry's demise, she tried to console herself with the fact that he was here and alive so it must have worked out fine.

Harry slowed down now, telling them of the resurrection stone and the people who had come from it to help him get through to Voldermort. Then he reached the part that he knew was going to upset Ginny but he had to tell her so that she could understand. 'I stood there' he said 'In the clearing surrounded by Death Eaters. I looked up at Voldermort and thought of Ginny and then the next thing I saw was a flash of green light and then nothing.'

Ginny could no longer contain herself and collapsed into Harry's arms sobbing uncontrollably. 'Erm, could you give us a few minutes?' said Harry as he started to comfort Ginny. Kingsley nodded, not trusting himself to speak; he led the headmistress out of her office. He could see that she was also in shock and indeed they had barely reached the bottom of the stairs before she too collapsed into his arms sobbing uncontrollably. Kingsley fought back his tears but did not really succeed and they stood in each other's arms crying for the Boy who had saved them all.

* * *

Ginny managed to get her tears under control after a few minutes and she looked at Harry and said 'You died for me?' Hardly believing the words that she was speaking.

'I died for everyone.' he said simply 'But mainly I died for you. I died to give you a life free from fear.'

Ginny was speechless 'I..I...I didn't know.' she managed to force out.

He took her hands 'Now you do. I promise that it gets better from now on.'

'Should we fetch the Minister and the Headmistress?' Ginny asked.

'No, Let them come back at their own speed.' he replied. 'I think McGonagall took it almost as hard as you did.'

* * *

Outside the office the sobbing had also subsided. McGonagall looked into Kingsleys eyes 'I had no idea.' she said, clearly still in a state of shock.

Kingsley's eyes still looked a little wild as well as he said 'Neither did I. Harry has had to shoulder a burden that no wizard should ever have to. Not only that, but he actually proved to be more than equal to the task as well.'

They stood there for a few minutes more and then reluctantly separated. 'Well.' said Kingsly, whose throat seemed to be tight all of a sudden 'Shall we join them and hear the rest of the story? Especially as, for a dead person, Harry seems to be moving around and talking rather a lot.'

Professor McGonagall smiled weakly at the quip and climbed the stairs to her office once more.

Kingsley looked thoughtfully at her back and then followed her up.

* * *

Harry and Ginny were still cuddling when McGonagall and Kingsly entered. They looked at peace and McGonagall was loath to disturb them.

'Ahem.' They separated and looked up at Dumbledore's portrait and then around the room.

'Oh sorry Headmistress, Minister. We didn't see you there'

'That's fine Harry.' said Kingsley, 'We didn't want to disturb you.'

'In that case, I suggest that you buy a curtain for a certain portrait, that is twice he's interrupted us. tonight' he winked at Dumbledore who winked back. Ginny took it as a good sign that Harry was able to make the odd joke.

'Now.' he said 'Lets finish this.' he yawned and then proceeded to cover the conversation he had in Kings Cross station with Dumbledore and how he had been tempted to move on. Ginny fiercely clutched his arm for a few moments until he told them why he came back.

'For me?' she looked up at him.

'Well for everyone really but mainly for you. I decided to live to ensure that you and your family could enjoy life without the threat of Voldermort hanging over you all.' He yawned and rubbed his eyes again remembering that he still needed sleep.

Speaking quickly and precisely he sketched in the time from waking up on the forest floor to the fall of Voldermort. He finished by telling them of how he repaired his own wand using the Elder Wand.

Ginny and the others could see that Harry was now seriously struggling to stay awake as his eyes drooped shut. Ginny looked at the Minister and the Headmistress. 'I assume that questions can wait until tomorrow?' she said with a new tone of command in her voice. The tone wasn't missed by either Kingsley or McGonagall who looked at each other with raised eyebrows. McGonagall broke the silence.

'Certainly Miss Weasley. Go and take him to bed and make sure he sleeps. It's the least we can do for him after what he's done for us.'

'Harry?' he looked up blearily at Ginny 'Thank you for sharing that with me but now we have to get you to bed before you fall asleep.'

He continued to look blankly at her.

'HARRY!' she shouted at him, his head shot up 'Wha..' he said. 'Time for you to go to bed.' she commanded.

'Oh?' he said 'Okay.' and allowed her to lead him out of the office. As they left McGonagall said 'We will need to see the four of you tomorrow before you leave but please, in your own time.' Ginny nodded and left.

'I think we've just seen the birth of a legend.' said Kingsley in awe.

'Not just that.' said McGonagall if even a tenth of what Harry went through for Ginny comes out then we'll have young witches crying themselves to sleep at Hogwarts for years to come.

Kingsley chuckled 'Just wait until tomorrow and Harry really wakes up to the new Ginny, I think he's in for a bit of surprise.'

'Oh I don't know' said Dumbledore's portrait, his eyes twinkling again 'I think that's one surprise that Harry will be glad of.'

* * *

Ginny led Harry through the school to the Gryffindor common room. As she passed the main hall, she could see that most people had conjured beds to sleep on the floor. A quick glance told her that Ron and Hermione weren't there either so she assumed they'd be in Gryffindor tower.

The fat lady swung aside with a loud 'Hic' as she and Violet were swigging from a couple of champagne bottles. 'Well done Harry!' could be heard as the portrait swung shut. Ginny had to literally drag Harry up the stairs to the dormitory as he was rapidly losing his fight against sleep. When she entered the dormitory she could see that the curtains were drawn around Ron's bed and from the sounds from within he was already far ahead of Harry.

She cocked her ear and realized that he wasn't the only one either. There were definitely two different sets of snores coming from the bed and one of them sounded decidedly lady like. She smiled to herself. Too tired to really care though she took Harry's glasses off and pointed him at the bed. 'Harry, bed.' she said.

'Oh' he said 'Good.' and collapsed forwards onto it. Ginny rolled her eyes, moved to drag him up the bed, with difficulty, until his head was actually on his pillow.

She turned to leave for her own dormitory but then turned back to look at Harry. After all he had told her tonight, how could she leave him? Moving carefully she climbed on to the bed with him and pulled the curtains closed. Putting her wand to hand she cuddled up to Harry's recumbent form and breathed in ~Hmm~ she thought ~I could get used to this~ and gratefully let sleep claim her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Sunlight bathed the castle as a new fresh day greeted Hogwarts, or at least it's remains. Huge holes existed in the fabric of the castle and piles of fallen rubble littered the grounds poking through the low mist that hung over the lawns. Here and there the sunlight glinted off shards of broken glass. After the excitement of the last twenty four hours, Hogwarts once again looked peaceful.

A weary but happy Minister for Magic surveyed the grounds from the headmistresses office. 'So much damage.' he said.

'But we will rebuild' said McGonagall from behind him.

He turned to face her 'Yes' he said ' _ **We**_ will.'

She smiled. 'I'm glad to see that you've got more respect for the school than other more recent incumbents of your office.'

'It is our future Minerva.' he said, 'And if I am to have any hope of rebuilding the ministry after this, I'm going to need the school to supply me with the next generation of ministry employees.'

McGonagall looked a little shocked at this frank admission. 'This school isn't just a production line for the ministry!'

'Sorry' he said 'that didn't come out quite as I intended.' He looked at her again. 'I've got serious problems. The ministry is currently operating at around 30% capacity.' he told her. 'A large number of employees are being investigated due to being suspected of actively participating in or at least supporting Voldemort's regime and its aims. Of those we need to determine who is in fact guilty and of those who can be rehabilitated and who we cannot trust. If you add into the mix that there are a number of death eaters on the loose still, you can see why I need to get as many Hogwarts students as I can. They will come in, clean of any taint from the last year, and as most of them participated in the battle against Voldamort, I will know that I can trust them.'

McGonagall looked back at him, 'I had no idea the situation was so bad.'

'Neither did I until I got the preliminary reports from Dawlish and Robbins last night. Apparently the only reason that ministry is still functioning at all is that it's not really being called on to do anything at the moment.' He rubbed his eyes. 'We think we can get the basic functions up and running in a few days but I'm concerned in case the remaining death eaters try to stage a fight back, we're really not in a position to stop them right now.'

'But the Ministry is not the only one in trouble, Hogwarts is once again missing a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor' McGonagall, stood in shock at the bleak assessment just provided by the minister and took in his clearly worried face. 'Do you have any plans to avoid that happening?' she asked.

'I'm glad you asked that Minerva.' said Kingsley and extracted a sheet of parchment from his robes. 'I'd like your input on these proposals...'

The early morning sun was missed by the four recumbent forms in the Gryffindor tower 7th year boys dormitory. Given their activities of the last twenty four hours is was not surprising that they had barley stirred during the night and it wasn't until nearly noon that Molly Weasley decided that they should at least come down and have some lunch.

However Molly wasn't ready for finding said forms in the same bedrooms. She had gone initially to the Girls dormitory planning to wake Ginny and Hermione first and let them get themselves up before disturbing the boys. When she got to the 6th year girls dormitories she could find Ginny's bed but not either Girl. Initially she thought they might be in the 7th year girls dormitory, after all that was where Hermione would have been sleeping had she attended Hogwarts this year. That search proved fruitless as well.

Molly started to panic a bit but rushed to the boy's dormitories running through them one after the other until she finally reached Harry and Ron's room. With relief she could see and, certainly in Ron's case, hear that two of the beds were occupied. She pulled the curtains back frantically thinking to ask Harry and Ron if they knew where the girls were when she saw that there were four bodies, two in each bed.

'RONALD WEASLEY!' she shouted. Ginny was awake in seconds and trained her wand on her mother with rattlesnake speed.

'Who are you?' she challenged quietly but with determination that cause her mother to step back for a second. 'I said who are you?' Ginny repeated.

'GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY, I AM YOUR MOTHER AND I AM NOT AMUSED!'

Ginny's shoulder's slumped with relief. 'Sorry mum I was just worried you might be a Death eater under the polyjuice potion.' she muttered

'SORRY EH? YOU WILL BE! I EXPECT YOU DOWN IN THE GREAT HALL IN FIVE MINUTES.' Jabbing her finger at Ginny.

She turned and looked at her youngest son. 'AND THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO RONALD!'

She spun on her heels and stormed from the room.

Harry opened his eyes 'Is it safe to come out yet?' he asked.

Ron grinned sheepishly at him. 'As safe as it'll ever be.' he said as Hermione's face rose from behind Ron. Harry gawped at them.

'Hermione?' He exclaimed.

'You can't talk mate.' said Ron sniggering 'I believe I spy my little sister in your bed.'

'I don't even remember getting into bed.' said Harry looking confused. 'Let alone with Ginny.'

'I brought you unto bed last night.' said Ginny looking very scared and vulnerable; she was sat up in bed hugging her legs.

'You were dead on your feet and just passed out as soon as we got here. After what you told me yesterday I didn't want to be away from you so I sort of erm...' she twirled a stand of hair between her fingers as she paused. 'Cuddled up to you. I guess I was so tired that I slept through dawn.'

She withdrew into a small shell and whispered 'Mums going to kill me...'

'Not just you.' said Ron, also looking slightly sick.

Harry took Ginny's hand and looked into her eyes, 'Don't worry he said I'll protect you, she likes me remember?' She smiled weakly.

'Harry mate.' said Ron 'Could you extend that protection this way please? I've only just got together with Mione and I'd quite like to be alive to enjoy it.'

'Ron!' said Hermione 'Your mums not that bad.'

Both Ginny and Ron turned to look at her in surprise 'We are talking about the same person here aren't we?' said Ron 'Where do you think Ginny's temper comes from?, trust me like mother like Daughter.'

'Ron's right Hermione.' Said Ginny 'And we'd better get down there soon before she gets any worse.' She got out of the bed and extended a hand to Harry who took it and joined her.

'Worse?' said Hermione, 'She gets worse?' Now Hermione looked as sick as Ginny and Ron. Only Harry seemed to be looking fine.

As they took the walk down to the main hall from Gryffindor tower it seemed to him that Ginny , Ron and Hermione were walking as slow as they could. Harry took the opportunity to look at the devastation as they walked through the castle. The sheer amount of damage was mute testimony to the ferocity of the fighting. As they approached the ground floor they passed a corridor with a missing wall that looked familiar to Harry. He couldn't initially work out why he should find all the rubble and damage etched into his mind so clearly, and then it hit him Fred had fallen here. He looked at the spot and just stopped moving.

Ginny swung round him as she tried to keep on walking, 'Harry?' She asked.

He let go of her hand and stepped to the spot where Fred's body had lay, a single Ton tongue toffee remained; a suitably Weasley tribute though he doubted that it had been left intentionally. A searing pain reached Harry's scar, the last thing he heard was Ginny asking if he was OK. Then he saw nothing, only Black.

Molly stormed into the Hospital wing with Arthur in tow to find Madam Pomfrey fussing round Harry who was curled up on a hospital bed. Her daughter sat next to Harry, one hand resting on him but it was her face that shocked Molly. Tears streamed from her eyes which had a hunted look to them. The rest of her face was a mask of pain. A constant muttering could be heard that sounded like 'Please let him be okay, Please let him be okay...'

Ron and Hermione were next to Ginny holding onto each other, Ron had a hand on Ginny's shoulder offering what comfort he could. Their faces were not much better than Ginny's but with a few less tears.

Her hand went to her mouth 'Harry?' all thoughts of the dormitories earlier were gone and she looked on at the young man who she had long considered as a son lying comatose on a bed

The rest of the Weasley clan came charging in and stopped, open mouthed at the scene that open before them. Madam Pomfrey looked as if she was going to tell them all to go when Bill said 'What happened?'

'We don't know. When we were coming down to the Great Hall, we passed where Fred had...You know... and Harry's hand shot up to his scar. Then he just fainted i guess.' Ron told his mother.

'He just needs some rest.' she said 'which he can't do with all of you lot in here.'

They reluctantly left one by one. Shifting Ron and Hermione proved to be a bit more difficult until Molly and Arthur came back 'Ronald.' she said kindly 'Come on time to go and leave Madam Pomfrey to do her job.' Ron looked at Ginny and she imperceptibility nodded to him and with Hermione in tow walked towards the door, Hermione glanced back at the pair of them as they walked across the floor.

'Ginny dear, that means you as well.' she said.

'No.' she whispered.

'What was THAT?' said Mrs Weasley, her voice increasing in volume.

'NO!' shouted Ginny 'I WONT LEAVE HIM!' her eyes blazed at her mother.

'Mum' Ron said quietly cutting off any chance for an escalation of the argument. 'Let her stay with him. He needs her love right now.'

Arthur took her hand, 'Ron's right Molly, let's go and get some lunch.' He looked at his daughter; we'll be back later with some food for you which you will eat.'

'I'm not really hungry dad.'

'Ginny,' he said raising a finger 'the part about you eating is not open for negotiation.'

'Okay.' she agreed knowing when to back down with her father and turned her attention back to Harry.

Ginny didn't look up as they left. All her attention was focused on a black haired boy who was now the center of her own personal universe. ~Harry~ she thought ~Please come back to me...~

The Weasley's and Hermione sat in a corner of the great hall, Ron had started eating as soon as he had sat down and finished three plates before declaring himself full.

'Ron.' said Arthur 'I think it's time that you and Hermione should tell your mother and I what is going on.'. He held up his other hand to stop Ron interrupting. 'I can see that you and Hermione are together and obviously there is also something between Ginny and Harry but it's all come a bit fast for us, although.' he paused 'Not exactly unexpected.'

Ron's mouth dropped open.

Hermione looked at Ron's parents and blushed, 'Have I been that obvious?' she asked.

'Not really dear.' said Molly, 'But Ron has.'

'Mum!' Ron blushed furiously

'I've watched him change over the last few years, his attitude to you the way he speaks about you. I expected something to happen before now though.'

'I was too scared to ask her in case she said no.' Said Ron 'And this last eight months...' He paused 'Well I think it's fair to say we had our mind on other things.'

He turned to look at her. 'I'm sorry, Hermione. Sorry for taking so long to realise how I feel about you and how much I love you.' He looked into her eyes.

She looked back at him in surprise, tears forming in her eyes 'When?' she whispered 'When did you finally realise?' she took his hand.

'I've known for years but the trigger was that night in Malfoy manor when the bitch w..'

'Ron!' Molly exclaimed

'Sorry Mum.' Ron smiled at Hermione glad for a chance to finally tell her. 'That night Bellatrix was torturing you while I was locked up in the dungeon. I couldn't bear the thought of the pain you were in and that I might never see you again.' He turned to his parents. 'They were planning to feed her to Greyback after Bellatrix had finished with the Cruciatus Curse, fortunately Harry and I managed to get to her before that happened.'

Molly had turned white and even Arthur failed to keep the shock from his face.

'But some good did come from that.' Said Hermione with a weak smile, 'Ron finally realized that he had feelings for me. I was beginning to despair that he ever would.'

Ron turned back to look at her 'How long have you known?' he asked.

'Lets just say I would have been more than happy to go to the yule Ball with you if you'd asked me soon enough.' She smiled at him.

'Well that explains this morning then.' said Molly. She turned to Arthur, 'I found all four of them in bed together this morning in Ron and Harry's dormitory. Fully clothed before you ask, but it was a bit of a shock.' Arthur raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

'Mind you, I still don't understand Ginny and Harry. The last I knew, she wanted to simultaneously kiss him and hex him.'

'I had a brief chat with Harry last night.' said Arthur 'A bit of friendly advice to get the explanation of what his feelings were in quickly before she managed to Hex him. He said then that they had been dating during Harry's sixth year but that he broke it off in the hope that it would make Ginny less of a target while he was off on his quest. He also made it clear that he intended to get back together with her now that the quest was complete. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting him to be so literal about it though.'

'Ah.' said Ron 'Actually it was Ginny, after he had explained the details of the whole quest to the minister, the headmistress and Ginny he was exhausted. Ginny literally dragged him to bed where he proceeded to pass out in short order.'

'As I understand it Mrs Weasley, Ginny just couldn't bring herself to leave him after she found out what he did for her yesterday.' Explained Hermione.

'And what was that ?' Said Molly.

Hermione looked at Ron and something seemed to pass between them before Hermione said 'Go on Ron.'

'Mum, Dad, There's no way I can think of to break this gently to you.' he brushed his hand through his hair. 'Harry went into the forest yesterday to let Voldemort kill him.'

Molly shuddered 'No...'

'He was doing it for everyone so that Voldemort could be defeated but mainly he was doing it so that Ginny could live her life free of fear.' said Ron

'He told us that he fully expected to die and that his last thoughts were of Ginny.' explained Hermione.

'Apparently she was also the reason he decided to come back.' added Ron

Molly's eyes were full of tears and Arthur looked like he'd just been smacked with several bludgers.

'I guess you might understand why Ginny is being so fiercely protective of Harry right now and why you found her in his bed this morning.' Said Ron.

The sat in silence for a few moments before Hermione broke it. 'Mr and Mrs Weasley, I think Ron and I will take some food up to Ginny and Harry and leave you to sort things out.'

'Don't Worry Dad, I'll make sure Ginny eats.'.

They grabbed a selection of the sandwiches and a pitcher of pumpkin juice then headed out of the hall.

Harry opened his eyes slowly; even without his glasses he recognized the blur that was the hospital wing. ~How many times have I woken up here?~ he wondered. His train of thought was interrupted as a young female body threw herself at him.

'Harry!, you're awake!' the joy and relief in her voice were unmistakable.

He rolled over to see a red headed blur 'Hello Ginny.' he said but got no further as a pair of lips met his. Harry was briefly startled before he started to kiss her back.

'Urgh! Harry!' said Ron.

Harry sat up quickly looking decidedly disheveled. 'Wha?'. Ginny for her part was glaring daggers at Ron but passed Harry his glasses with one hand while the other remained entwined with his.

As he put them on Ron and Hermione swam into focus, as did the tray of food. 'Ah' he said, 'Breakfast is served.' and he reached for a sandwich with his free hand but before it reached his mouth, the reason he was lying in the hospital wing reared its ugly head in his mind.

'Voldemort has gone, you've destroyed him. Some good people died in the process but ultimately you carried out the last plans of Dumbledore successfully. What's more.' he smirked 'You got the girl into the bargain.'

Ron grimaced 'I can't believe I just said that, especially about my sister.'

Harry looked up 'It's no worse than you and Hermione.' he replied.

They grinned at each other.

'Men!' exclaimed Hermione.

'No' said Ginny 'Our men.' she hugged Harry again as Hermione grabbed hold of Ron.

They held each other for a few minutes until Madam Pomfrey interrupted them, 'This isn't Madam Puddifoot's you four.'

Ron and Hermione jumped apart in embarrassment. Ginny and Harry however simply moved slightly apart but kept their hands together.

'Mr Potter needs peace and quiet and an extended period of rest along with some good meals' She looked round at the rest of them 'A course of treatment that wouldn't go amiss for the rest of you if the rumors of what you've been doing for the last year are true.'

'I couldn't agree more.' Said Kingsley as he walked into the Hospital wing with the Headmistress.

'Poppy.' said McGonagall. 'Is it okay to speak with these four right now?'

'It should be okay for ten minutes or so, as long as you're not going to excite them too much, especially Harry.'

'We can't promise that.' said Kingsley 'but it will be good news.' He leaned over to the Matron and whispered something in her ear.

'Okay.' she said 'I agree that it will probably do them some good, But no more than ten minutes, I need to check over Mr Potter again to make sure he's okay.' She turned away from the group. 'I'll be in my office until you need me.' and she walked off up the ward.

'Let's get comfortable first.' said Kingsley and waved his wand conjuring four comfy chairs for the headmistress, Ron, Hermione and himself. He assumed, correctly, that Ginny would continue to share Harry's bed.

'Hang on minister.' said Ron 'Before you start' He turned to Harry and Ginny 'You two need to eat some food. I promised Dad I would make sure you ate.'

'Well' said Harry 'Now that I've had some things explained to me I do feel a touch peckish.' and started on the sandwiches. Ginny followed suit, Now Harry was awake and speaking she also found she was starving. 'By all means eat first.' said Kingsley, secretly he didn't want to be covered in sprays of food that were bound to come from Harry's mouth when he got told about several of the items on the list.

After five minutes or so, once Harry and Ginny had eaten enough Kingsley extracted a piece of parchment from his robes. 'Okay, 'I'll start at the top.'

'Congratulations, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger. We will in due course be presenting you all with the order of Merlin first class for your efforts in bringing down the dark wizard who styled himself as Lord Voldemort.'

Harry was opening his mouth to say something but Ginny, suspecting he was going to try and refuse it, nudged him in the ribs and he shut his mouth.

'Congratulations also to you Miss Weasley; along with Miss Lovegood and Mr Longbottom, you will receive the order of Merlin First class for your efforts protecting all students from the Carrows during this last year at great personal risk to yourselves.'

This time it was Ginny who was going to say something but Harry gently squeezed her hand and she shut her mouth.

Kingsley had missed both of these exchanges and moved onto the next item. 'For your information Harry, Professor Snape will also receive the order of Merlin First class posthumously.'

'Thank you.' said Harry. 'He deserved it.'

'Right, this next bit comes in two parts, I'll let the headmistress tell you the first part and then I'll cover the second part after that.'

'Thank you Minister.' said McGonagall 'In light of the woeful standard of teaching this year in some subjects and the enforced absence from the school of a number of students, the governors and the ministry have agreed that any student that wishes to may repeat this year. Alternatively there is also an option to continue in your present year and additional lessons will be provided to help you catch up what has been missed. In either case, due to the damage to the school, this year is will end early and terms will start as normal in September, by which point, we expect to have completed the repairs.'

Hermione beamed at them. 'I can finish my NEWTS!' She said almost jumping up and down in joy. Ron groaned and his eyes met Harry's.

'Oh Ron, don't you want to come back? You've got to have top grades if you want to become an Auror.'

'Not precisely Miss Granger.' interrupted Kingsley.

'I don't understand.' said Hermione.

'The second part is that those students in their final year who excelled during the war are to be offered a fast track into the ministry. In short the ministry is willing to employ you without the required NEWTS. Any areas where you need to get up to speed due to the nature of the job will be covered off during the next year with the support of the Hogwarts teaching staff.'

Ron's eyes lit up and he grinned at Harry who grinned back.

'That reminds me.' said Kingsley he took three packs of parchment out of his robes and handed one each to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

'In that pack, you'll find details of each of the departments in the ministry, some details of what they do and an open invitation to an interview with the head of each department. Have a look through and let me know as soon as you've made your minds up. I'm not trying to pressure you here but the ministry could really do with your talents right now.'

'I have to admit.' said Harry 'I am tempted by the Ministry offer and I'm sure Ron is as well but I wouldn't want to be separated from Ginny for a year. We just spent eight months apart and that was absolute hell for both of us.'

'Well I can tell you that regardless of which option you eventually decide to go for, you are officially stood down until the 1st September. There will be the ceremony for the presentation of the orders of Merlin at some point and we will be holding a memorial service for those who fell. I will need to contact you from time to time to cover off what we are going to release to the press but you should have most of the time between now and September to relax and recover.

'Thank you minister.' Said Hermione, 'I think that we'll need some time to discuss this between ourselves.'

'Take all the time that you need, oh and please call me Kingsley, I'm still not used to all this "Minister" thing yet.'

'Well then Kingsley.' said Harry, 'I do have one favor to ask you and the headmistress.' He reached into his robes and withdrew the elder wand. 'We need to put this back where it was taken from and secure it so that no one can take it again.'

'Is that what I think it is Mr Potter?' asked the headmistress in awe.

'Yes, it is the elder wand. It is my intention to seal it back in Dumbledore's tomb and let it's last master die undefeated, that way the power of this wand will be broken. There's has been enough blood shed over this wand to last ten lifetimes. Let it end now.'

'Madam Pomfrey will have to discharge you Harry but Minerva and I can wait around for you so that we can do this now. There are few people left at Hogwarts now so it would be an ideal time and I agree the fewer know it is in there the better.'

Harry was discharged from the Hospital wing after a brief fifteen minute exam by Madam Pomfrey who declared him to be fit but undernourished and in need of rest. He joined the others who had waited for him just outside the hospital wing.

'Lets go.' Said Harry taking Ginny's hand. They walk swiftly and quietly through Hogwarts, down the stairs to them main entrance and out onto the lawns. True to Kingsley's word they saw no other students through the trip and as they approached the tomb the only movement that could be seen were couple of tentacles breaking the surface of the lake as the giant squid basked near to the surface in the early afternoon sun.

The lid of the tomb still rested in two long pieces where Voldemort had discarded them. One of them was tossed to the side of the main box and lay embedded in the soft turf with the jagged break pointing towards the sky. The other lay skew across the top, partly covering the opening but still allowing easy access.

Harry let Ginny's hand drop from his and moved up towards the tomb. He looked over the edge and saw the face of his mentor still almost perfectly preserved and pale Clearly some charm had stopped anything from disturbing the professors body in the time the tomb had been open to the elements. Harry took a moment to tug the shroud back over Dumbledore and then withdrew the wand from his pocket. With a final look he placed it back in Dumbledore's hand. As he withdrew his hand from the tomb a few sparks shot from the end of it, towards Harry's hand. It was almost as if it was trying to temp Harry to take it up again.

Harry stepped back and Stood with his head bowed.

After a few minutes Harry looked up at the rest of the group 'How do we want to do this?' he asked.

'We can easily levitate the pieces of the top up and repair them. But I think that we should also add some additional layers of protection to the tomb.' Hermione said. 'You know permanent sticking charms, and the like.'

'The twins showed me how to cast the shield charm on objects, like they did with those Hats, that would make most basic spells bounce off.' Ron added.

'Fidelius Charm' Said Harry quietly. 'Make me the secret keeper of the location of the elder wand.'

'Harry!' exclaimed Ginny 'That'll just put you in more danger.' she was exasperated that Harry still insisted on putting himself forwards for these dangerous missions.

'I have to agree Harry, making you the secret keeper would be too obvious.' Said Kingsley. 'I suggest either myself or Minerva. If dark wizards ever find out that one of us knows the location, that leaves them with the prospect of kidnapping and successfully interrogating either the minister for Magic or the Headmistress of Hogwarts just to get hold of it and that's before they try to find you Harry and try to defeat him so they can master it.'

'Sounds good to me.' Agreed Harry. 'Ginny and I will lift the pieces together if Kingsley or the Headmistress wants to repair them. Then Hermione can cast her sticking charm and finally Ron can add the modified shield charm.'

'What about the Fidelius Charm?' asked Hermione taking her wand out.

'I think that if either Kingsley or the Headmistress are going to have it cast it on them then they can do that once we have gone. There is no need for us to actually know who the secret keeper is. Hopefully it'll provide them and me another layer of protection.'

'Ready Ginny?' Harry asked as he drew his wand. 'I'll take the one on the ground. Wingardium Leviosa.' With a practiced swish and flick the first half of the top of the tomb floated upwards.

Ginny's half joined it shortly and they deftly positioned the two halves together on the tomb in their original place. Kingsley cast a quick Reparo charm and the Marble top swiftly knitted together as good as new.

Hermione and Ron added their own spells and the group, as one, turned back towards Hogwarts.

'So now what?' said Harry as they walked up past the lake

'We need to get to the fire place in the headmistress office, we can floo from there.' said Hermione.

'You're coming back to the Burrow love.' said Ginny as her hand enveloped his own again and Harry came to a halt.

'Seriously?' he said his memories of that morning in the dormitory rose to the front of his mind. He winced as he replayed the conversation 'I thought your Mum was a bit put out with us all after finding out about the sleeping arrangements.'

'Well that was before Hermione and I filled them in of some of the details behind it.' Ron looked up at Harry 'Sorry Mate but I figured you'd rather I told her than you and Ginny get the third degree as soon as you woke up.'

'Thanks Ron.' Said Ginny with genuine feeling 'How did they take it?'

'They came around more or less, Dad seems perfectly fine with it and Mum's almost recovered from the shocks we gave her. I'm sure that you'll be getting extensively mothered when we get back but I'd suggest that we keep our relationship's a bit more low key back at the burrow, at least to start out with.'

'So what does she know?' asked Harry reluctantly.

Ron thought for a moment, 'The escape from Malfoy manor and the torture inflicted by Bellatrix on Hermione. That's what convinced them that she and I were serious.' He took a deep breath 'I had to tell them about the forest last night Harry and about what you did for all of us and Ginny and why you came back.'

Harry winced 'I wish...'

'I know, I wish I could have kept that secret too but Mum needed to know so that she'd understand Ginny pulling her wand on her this morning.'

Ginny turned white 'I'd forgotten that.' she said 'Mum's gonna kill me.'

'Nah.' said Ron 'She understands now but I'd recommend not doing it again if I were you.'

'Out of interest.' said Harry 'What convinced you it was your mum?'

'She used my full name.' Said Ginny, 'Only her, Dad, Ron and Bill know it.'

'And now Hermione and I do.' He smiled at her.

'Yes.' said Hermione, 'It was a bit hard to miss wasn't it.'

They started out for the Head Mistresses office again noting that both Kingsley and McGonagall had gone on ahead. They took their time walking through the castle until they reached the staircase that led up to the headmistress's office. The gargoyle was still slumped to the side so they started up the staircase.

Entering the office, the Headmistress and the Minister were there, 'All done Harry.' Said Kingsley as the Headmistress gestured towards the tub of floo powder on her desk.

'Off you go then.' she said kindly. 'Your mother and father left an hour ago.'

Ron went first, followed closely by Hermione.

'See you soon' said Ginny as she stepped into the fire.

Harry took a pinch of powder and took one last look around the office. He knew this would be the last time he would see Hogwarts as a student. Hermione might have talked about discussing their options but as far as Harry was concerned his mind was made up already.

'Good bye headmistress, minister.' he said nodding towards each of them in turn before throwing the powder into the fire. As the flames turned green he stepped in and said 'the Burrow.'

As Harry disappeared, McGonagall turned to Kingsley. 'You'll get Harry.' .

'I don't know what you mean.' he said with a nearly straight face.

'Kingsley.' she protested 'You know for well what I mean.'

'Okay.' he said 'But how do you know?'

'I've seen that look on a student's face before, and besides Harry's wanted to be an Auror for years now.'

'What about the others?'

'You'll probably get Ron as well but you'll definitely have to wait for Hermione. There is no way she would not come back and complete her studies.'

Kingsley sighed 'You're probably right, I'd have liked to get them all on board but I supposed Miss Granger will help by simply staying visibly at the school and carrying on, what about Ginny?'

'Oh she'll opt for the catch up lessons and graduate next year.' she paused 'You know' she said 'The next year is going to be hard on both couples with the girls here and the boys in London and I can't see any way to allow them to visit often either, it just would be right for the image of the school and I'd never get the governors to agree in any case.'

'It might just be.' said Kingsley 'That I can help them with that and help you into the deal.'

Again he extracted a sheet of parchment from his robes.

McGonagall looked at him 'How many of those do you have?' she asked in interest.

'One or two', he said slightly evasively, 'In this case it might just be that we can solve some of the problems around the Defense against the dark arts position and get you some extra protection for Hogwarts and find a way to, er, suitably reward Harry and his friends for their help last year.'

'Now you have got me interested.' said McGonagall and they both bent down over the parchment.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Harry stepped from the fire in the kitchen of the Burrow to find himself enveloped by Ginny, he hugged her back and looked down at her face. 'Miss me?' she asked.

He smiled at her 'It's been all of ten seconds.' he said.

'Can't be too careful!' she replied and kissed him quickly before letting him go.

'Harry Dear, welcome home.' Molly moved to give Harry one of her bone crushing hugs.

When Harry could breath again, he replied, 'Thank you Mrs Weasley, I guess it'll take some getting used to the fact that I won't need to return to Privet Drive again, at least not to live.' He thought for a moment, 'I could do with collecting the last of my stuff assuming there is any left and I ought to say goodbye to them.'

Ron snorted 'After all they've done to you, you want to go and tell them goodbye, wouldn't good riddance be more accurate?'

'RON!' Molly was shocked with his comments even if she did secretly agree with them.

'It's okay Mrs Weasley, I did feel like that before but now I think things will be different if only because I'm not going to have to live with them again.' he paused 'Besides, Dudley seemed almost friendly before I left them last year and they are my only blood relatives.'

Ginny squeezed his hand.'There you go.' she said 'Busy being the "Noble Harry Potter" again.' she was grinning at him.

'Yes' said Hermione 'Ron and I keep trying to break him of it but every so often he tends to back slide.'

The three of them were all grinning at him now. 'You see what I've had to put up with Mrs Weasley.' waving his hand in the direction of his friends. 'I'd much rather be "just Harry" or even better "Ginny's Harry".' taking her hand.

~Whoops~ thought Ron, that's torn it.

'As far as my Daughter is concerned, "Noble Harry" is fine' she said a touch icily.

'MUM!' complained Ginny, 'That's not fair!.' She had moved to flank Harry and he noticed she was poised ready for a fight. Glancing at Mrs Weasley he could see her internal temperature rising as well. ~Here goes.~ he thought.

'Mrs Weasley, in terms of your Daughter, I could never be anything but "Nobel Harry" except perhaps "Loving Harry" or "Caring Harry".' He put his arm round her shoulders and gently squeezed her.

A stunned silence drifted over the room until it was broken by and explosive release of breath, they all turned to see Ron's Dad next to the fireplace.

'Well.' said Arthur walking into the middle of the room 'Now that's sorted, why don't Harry and I sit down and have a short chat.' It sounded reasonable but Ginny wasn't buying it.

'Dad, that's not fair. I should be with him.'

'Not for this chat my darling.' he said firmly. 'Now I suggest that you help Hermione move her stuff and yours into your room. Ron can you take Harry's stuff up to your room with you, he won't be long.'

Ron clasped his shoulder 'Good luck Mate.' he whispered.

Ginny hugged him 'I love you.' She said as she kissed him.

'Ginny.' said Molly.

'Alright, Alright,.' she replied slowly letting Harry go. 'I'm going.' and she stormed off up the stairs loudly dragging her trunk behind her.

'Shall we move into the sitting room Harry?' said Arthur.

Harry tore his eyes away from the stairs and nodded.

Ron grabbed his girlfriend's arm 'You'd better go and calm her down.' Said Ron 'She'll be about ready to explode in five minutes.' She nodded and headed up the stairs. Ron sighed and levitated both his and Harry's bags before heading up the stairs to his room.

* * *

'Okay, Take a seat Harry.' Said Mr Weasley.

Harry looked around the room and eventually perched nervously on the edge of an old comfy chair.

Mr Weasley smiled at Harry 'I see that between my daughter and wife, they've put the fear of Weasley into you.' He paused 'You can selax Harry, this little chat is to try and keep some peace in the house while you're here over the summer.'

Harry visibly relaxed into the chair and sighed with relief 'Thanks Mr Weasley.' he said as he made himself comfortable.

'Please Harry, call me Arthur I know Molly would be happy for you to use her name as well; after all you are practically part of the family now.'

Harry Smiled 'I'd love to Arthur.' He said happily but then taking a deep breath as he nervously plowed on 'What did you want to talk to me about? I assume it involved Ginny and me?'

'Right in one Harry.' said Mr Weasley, evidently pleased that Harry had conveniently introduced the subject. 'Firstly, I'd like to make it clear that neither Molly or I have any objections to your relationship with Ginevra. Ron told us what you did for her in the forest and after you saved her as well in the chamber of secrets... well, we couldn't think of anyone better to look after our daughter.'

He paused to gather his thoughts. 'What you need to understand is that from our perspective, this has all happened very suddenly. I know that you and Ginny were dating before you went on your quest but you've been apart for the best part of eight months and now suddenly your very clearly together. I think one of Molly's big concerns is that something similar happened after the last war. The first few months following your parents deaths, led to a significant increase in the number of marriages among wizarding families, and wizarding marriages are not undertaken lightly due to the wedding charm.'

Harry looked a little wild eyed at the last comment but Arthur didn't notice his discomfort and carried straight on with the explanation. 'Unlike a muggle marriage that can be dissolved by the courts of law, although I understand the church tends to frown on the practice, there is no concept of divorce in the Wizard world because the bond formed by the wedding vow is so strong, even the thought of breaking it can cause discomfort.'

'What happens if the couple fall out later on?' Harry asked.

'In the few cases that have been documented, the couple will generally live apart but could not marry another witch or wizard. Even living with another partner is said to be uncomfortable. I suppose it may be possible to take a muggle as a new partner but as the marriage charm is derived from the unbreakable vow, no one has dared to experiment openly.'

Harry suddenly realised that this, rather than him, was reason why Ginny's brothers and parents had been quite so worried about his intentions towards her.

'As a result, wizards and witches tend to go for long engagements.' Mr Weasley continued explaining.

~Okay Potter make a note of that hint, your life might depend on it.~

The knock on effect of the increase in marriages was an increase in the birth rate about a year later. I suspect that is the reason Molly is so worried.'

~Marriage? Children? Ginny?~ Harry looked a bit pale as he absorbed what Arthur had just told him.~Actually~ he mused.

'Harry?'

'Sorry Arthur, just trying to collect my thoughts. I guess it's just a bit of a shock for my to be thinking of such things right now. At the moment I am still trying to come to terms with the deaths during the battle and the fact that Voldemort is finally gone. Don't get me wrong, I think about Ginny all the time and I guess that I'd just not really thought through the consequences of our relationship.'

He looked thoughtfully at Mr Weasley. 'Maybe that didn't come out right... I know that at some point in the future I do want to marry your daughter and start a family' Harry looked to Arthur worried that he might have said too much. Arthur for his part simply raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

Harry took the lack of comment as tacit acceptance and carried on 'right now, I am just happy to be back together with her.'

~Hmm, about what I expected then~

Arthur looked at the boy who had just professed his love for his only daughter to the man who was his prospective father in law. Not only that, he wants to start a family with her. He could see the hope in Harry's eyes and decided to put the boy out of his misery.

~After all~ he thought ~He'll be my son in law someday~

'That will probably put Molly's mind at rest Harry. I know she is seriously concerned that Ginny will do something impulsive that she'll have to live with for the rest of her life. If I'm honest with you, I suspect she can see a bit of herself in Ginny right now.' He paused 'Do you know much of the Weasley Family history Harry?'

'Not really Arthur, most of what Ron has told me covered his brothers and Ginny hasn't spoken much about it apart from pointing out to me just how hard it was to grow up as the only girl.'

'Right, well this might help explain Molly's stance. You see Molly and I met at Hogwarts much as you and Ginny did, only we eloped very soon after finishing at Hogwarts. Before we knew it we had Bill on the way and so we had to make some changes to our plans, not that we regret it for one minute.' he pointed out 'But we had a similar idea to you, we would have a few years and then start the family. After the eloping though our life now overtook us and we had to settle down early. I guess Molly doesn't want that to happen to her only Daughter.'

Harry winced. 'Harry, are you alright?' asked Mr Weasley, suddenly concerned for his surrogate son.

Harry looked up at Arthur 'I think Ginny might be a bit angry right now, it feels like she's about ready to chew horseshoes and spit nails.'

'Really?' Said Arthur suddenly forgetting what he had been discussing. 'Muggles can do that then? Because I've got some nails in the shed and I can't see any teeth marks on them.'

'No Mr Weasley, it's just a muggle expression indicating that the person in question is very angry.'

'Oh.' he said 'I see.' he looked thoughtfully at Harry 'How exactly do you know Ginny's a bit angry right this second?'

Ginny was fuming in her room when she heard a tentative knock on the door. 'Ginny?' It was Hermione.

'Come on in.' she said.

'Ron thought it might be a good idea for us to have a quick chat so that we can calm you down before Harry comes up.'

'Oh he did? Did he?, I notice that he sent you to have the chat though.' she said angrily just about managing not to shout.

~Ready to Explode?~ thinking back to Ron's comment, ~She's already exploding, this is just going to be damage control.~

Hermione cast a Muffliato charm, 'What's up Ginny.' she said bracing herself for the harangue to come.

'I know what my Dad's going to do Hermione, he's going to load Harry down with a ton of restrictions and Harry.' she took a deep breath 'The noble Harry bloody Potter.' she spat out 'Will follow them!'. Ginny took a deeper breath.

~Here we go again~ thought Hermione.

'IT'LL BE CHAPERONES AND NO TIME TO OURSELVES ON OUR OWN AND RESTRAINED KISSING. JUST BECAUSE I'M THEIR ONLY DAUGHTER! IT'S NOT LIKE RON OR THE OTHER BOYS GOT THIS TREATMENT!'

'Ginny, I can't see Harry agreeing to that.' Said Hermione, trying desperately to get a word in edgeways.

'OH?' she yelled 'AND HOW WOULD YOU PRESUME TO KNOW THAT?'

'GINNY!' Said Hermione sharply. 'Where was I for the last eight months?'

'With Harry.' Said Ginny shocked that she'd managed to provoke Hermione into shouting at her.

'Exactly.' She looked at Ginny 'If things had been different then Ron and I would probably have gotten together sooner but we tried to avoid doing anything where Harry might see us. We could see that he missed you terribly so we tried to be just friends for his sake.'

Ginny looked surprised at this revelation. 'You and Ron held back for Harry's sake?' she said 'You really love him don't you?'

'Which one?' said Hermione arching her eyebrows suggestively.

'Harry.' Ginny said promptly.

'I love him as the brother I never had but no more than that, Ron on the other hand...'

'Stop right there Hermione.' said Ginny 'That comes under the heading of need to know and I do not need to know.'

Hermione laughed. 'Ron feels much the same about discussions involving Harry and you.'

'So how does you and my brother trying to restrain yourselves come into the discussion about my parents laying a ton of restrictions on Harry and me?'

'Well if I were to be blunt about it, I figure we're entitled to a little happiness and Harry more so. He might not come out and say it that way but I know that he doesn't want to waste any more time when he could be with you. I also suspect that he'll be looking to maximize his time with you this summer.'

'Why?' She said in shock 'Where's he going off to this time?' Clearly getting agitated again.

'Don't panic Ginny.' said Hermione 'I'm only trying to say that If I were a betting witch, I'd put money on the fact that Harry, and most likely Ron are going to take the minister up on his offer of a job and not return to Hogwarts in September.'

'Harry...working?' said Ginny.

'I don't doubt it. Harry's wanted to be an Auror since his fourth year and lets face it, Ron and Harry have never really been driven by academic achievement.'

'No, you got their share as well as your own.' Ginny replied.

'Maybe' she said looking a bit embarrassed.'And what about your choice?, are you going to repeat the sixth year or dive into the seventh and catchup?'

'I haven't got a choice really, I'm going straight onto my seventh year. Any other options means more time away from Harry. If he stays at Hogwarts then we spend the last year together, if not then it's only a year.' she said sadly

'Besides', Ginny said looking slyly at Hermione and smiling again. 'I'll be able to keep you company because I know exactly what you'll be doing.'

'True' Hermione admitted.'My parents don't understand much of the magical world but they do understand formal qualifications and like you said it'll only be a ye...' she gasped in shock. And took her head into her hands as she started sobbing.

'Hermione.' said Ginny worriedly 'What's wrong.'

Fighting the tears back she said, 'I...I...It's my parents.' she managed to get out, 'They're still in Australia!'

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Harry looked at Mr Weasley, 'I don't know.' he said but right now she's really angry at someone.

Arthur looked suspiciously at Harry

'Harry, I'm not saying that I don't believe you but what you've described is very rare indeed. In fact the only documented case in recent times existed between a certain young boy and an evil wizard styling himself as Lord Vol...Voldemort.' Clearly Mr Weasley still had trouble with the name sometimes.

Harry's hand went to his scar. ~Could he have survived?~ thought Harry. He considered the idea briefly and then dismissed the thought and replied 'Well my scar isn't hurting at the same time Mr Weasley. It always did when I connected with Voldemort.'

'Can I ask you stay here please Harry? I want to try and confirm this with Ginny first, it could be important.'

'Okay' said Harry 'She's a bit calmer now, I think Hermione may be talking with her.'

Arthur Weasley looked a little wild eyed at this but quickly headed to the door and up the stairs.

He knocked on the door to his daughters room, 'Ginny can I have a word please?' He waited a moment and Ginny opened the door. He was about to ask Ginny about her feelings when he spotted Hermione sitting on the end of the bed crying and looking thoroughly miserable. His face became a mask of concern. 'Are you alright Hermione?. He asked.

Hermione managed a nod.

'Dad, as I understand it Hermione did something to her parents before they went on the quest and they're now living in Australia. In all the excitement of the battle and everything else, she had forgotten about them until a moment ago.'

'Memory charm' whispered Hermione. 'I put a memory charm on them so they thought they were Mr and Mrs Wilkins and that their life's ambition was to move to Australia. As an added layer of protection, they don't know they have a daughter.'

Mr Weasley was impressed with the level of sophistication of the spell used. 'Well' he said 'I'm sure that if we have a word with Kingsley that he will be more than willing to help you retrieve them. After all, the wizarding world owes you a large debt of gratitude.'

'Thank you Mr Weasley, I still feel guilty about forgetting them though.'

'After the last few days, I'm sure they will understand. Once they get over the shock of finding they have a daughter that is.'

Just downstairs Bill stepped out of the fireplace 'HARRY! RON' he called

'Hey Bill what do you need?' asked Harry.

'Letters from Kingsley for you and Ron. He said not to tell anyone anything about what it says. Also to send it back to him via owl ASAP. Bye Harry' Bill handed Harry 2 letters then left as quickly as he came.

'RON!' Yelled Harry. Ron came down the stairs in a hurried manner 'what wrong Harry?'

'Letters from Kingsley. Bill just dropped them off. He said not to tell anyone anything about what it says and to send it back via owl ASAP.' Harry handed Ron the letter with his name on it. They opened the letters together which read:

 _Dear Ron and Harry,_

 _I would like to propose a job to the two of you. You would be an auror but be teaching at Hogwarts for a year. You may be wondering what you will be teaching? You will be teaching Defense against the dark arts. You will not need your NEWTs to take up this position. Having been Defending yourselves from alot of Dark Arts/Magic the past few years, you would be perfect for the job. Please respond ASAP. If you accept please report to my office an hour after you send the letters back. Sincerely, Kingsley Shacklebot_ _Minister of Magic_

'What do you think? Should we accept?' asked Ron

'I think that we should. Lets sign the papers and send them back to Kingsley.' Harry told Ron. For the next 30 minutes they read over the contract, signed the papers, and sent then they sent the papers off.

'Should we tell Mum and Dad? They will want to know where we will be going this coming year.' Ron asked his best friend uncertainly

'We will tell them but not any one else. We'd better tell them now. We are leaving for Hogwarts in a week.'

'Lets go then. Ginny and Hermione have already packed we need to go to Diagons Alley after we tell my parents.'


	4. Chapter 4

Harry and Ron found the two parents in the kitchen discussing something that had to do with Hermione.

"I doubt that they would give her a port key Molly. Do you know who is now the head of Magical Transportation now? Dolores Umbridge. She hates the kids. And the kids hate her." protested Mr Wealsey.

"Umbridge is a head now? But why would Hermione need a port key?" Asked Ron

Harry instantly knew why his friend needed a port key. "How did you find out? Did she tell you?"

Mr Weasley nodded while Ron looked like he was about to faint "Oh. Look mum and dad we never asked her to do that to them. She did it on her own."

"Relax Ron, She told me what happened. And is there a reason for you two men to be walking into the kitchen when there is not a meal present?" Teased Mr Weasley

"We just got letters from Kingsley. You are now looking at the two newest Aurors in the ministry. Not only that, we are also going to be teaching Defense Against The Dark Arts for the next year or so. We just wanted to tell you." Explained Harry while Ron's ears turned a bright shade of Red.

Mrs Weasley looked as if she was about to burst into tears but managed to say "Oh we are so proud of you. Be careful OK. I will go to Diagon Alley for you two. If you are not aware there is the press to worry about. I shall see you both during Dinner." She then Disapperated to The Leaky Culdron.

Mr Weasley sipped the tea Mrs Weasley had prepared for him before she had recieved the news "So i assume that you are not going to tell the girls about Hogwarts. I would like for you to tell them about the Auror stuff though."

Harry nodded in unison with Ron then practically ran up the stairs to Ginny's room. Without waiting to a reply to the knock on the door he barged into the room.

"Harry what's wrong?" Asked Ginny

"Oh Nothing only that in the past hour or so, we became Aurors. And for some bad news Umbridge is head of Magical Transportation. We have a meeting with Kingsley in about 15 minutes. Want to come?" Hastily said Ron

The two girls nodded and went disapperated to the Ministry of Magic.

They met Kingsley in his office and told the Harry and Ron to go to the Auror Department, Hermione to the Magical Transportation Department and Ginny to the Magical Sport Department.

The four of them almost floated away from the Ministers office , they couldn't believe their good luck. Grinning at each other, they reached the lift and stepped in. One floor down Harry and Ron got out heading to what was now their boss's office in the Auror Department.

On Level six, Hermione stepped out and quickly headed off to the Department of Magical Transportation Office

Ginny had only to wait for one more floor before she too disembarked and walked into the Department of Magical Games and Sports.

The reception witch looked up briefly, she seemed more interested in her nails which she was coloring by touching her want to each in turn while muttering an incantation. 'Yes? Can I help you?' She said, she sounded bored and Ginny thought that she was only asking to help out of habit. She certainly looked less than inclined to be of help to anyone who might walk in.

'I'd like to see Wilber Brown please.' Ginny tried to be polite and calm but this witch was rubbing her up the wrong way.

'Do you have appointment Miss...?' She finally looked up at Ginny properly but still didn't have a clue who she was addressing.

'Miss Weasley' she said sharply, the words coming out like bullets out of a gun as Ginny's temper took hold.

The receptionist's eyes opened wide 'The Ginny Weasley!' she exclaimed, 'Harry Potter's Girlfriend?' she was breathless with excitement.

Ginny shook her head 'Yes, THE Miss Weasley.' she emphasized, 'Yes Mr Potters Girlfriend.' she started to reach for her wand and leaned over the reception desk.

The witch, her attention fully focused on Ginny now, leaned out of the way in fear.

'Now.' she said firmly 'Where is Mr Brown's office?'

The receptionist gulped, her mouth suddenly dry for some reason. And she raised a shaking hand to point at a door. 'Th..Th..There' she said.

'There, that wasn't so hard was it?' said Ginny in a determined tone and strode off towards the office indicated.

Harry and Ron reached the Auror office and quickly walked through to the few separate offices there were until they reached the one that said "Gawain Robards – Head Auror". They could see that most of the office was open plan with small cubicles for the Aurors. They also noted that most of them seemed to be devoid of any personal items that would indicate that it was actually used by someone.

Harry and Ron looked at the door and then each other. Finally Ron said with a smile on his face 'Well, you're the great leader Harry.'

'Thanks Mate.' The sarcasm clear in his voice 'As soon as they sign us on, I'll be sure to volunteer you for all the late watches for that last comment.' Harry wasn't smiling.

'You not serious?' Ron looked quite worried

'Gotcha!' Said Harry breaking into a grin as he knocked on the door.

'Come in, I've been expecting you.' came the voice from the other side of the door.

They walked in to find a wand leveled at them 'Oh yes.' the voice purred from behind a mask, 'I've been expecting you.'

Harry didn't even think about it as he cast a wandless non-verbal expelliarmus spell at the figure whose wand flew up and Ron deftly caught it. He promptly leveled it at the wizard and called out 'Petrificus Totalus' the wizards arms and legs swung together and he keeled over on to his back.

Harry drew his own wand and leaned forward to draw the mask off the face, as he did Harry sensed someone behind him. He glanced briefly at Ron and his eyes darted backwards. As he continued to lean forwards he silently cast a Levicorpus spell behind him. There was a muffled cry as a wizard was hoisted up by his ankle and left dangling. Ron quickly disarmed and bound the second wizard as well. They turned back to the original wizard took the mask off.

It was Neville Longbottom.

Hermione clutched a piece of parchment and headed towards the Department of Magical Transportation. Once there she followed the signs to the Portkey Office and walked in through the open doorway. The front desk was empty so she walked through into the department.

The room was fairly large and one wall was dominated by a map of the United kingdom with a number of lights twinkling on and off randomly. Next to the map was a large board with two columns both filled about half way down. She could just about make out the column headings of "Item" and "Wizard".

As she turned round she could see the room was open but with a desk raised in the corner there was a chair with a high back on it which was turned towards the wall. Assuming that whoever sat in the chair must be the person in charge, she moved towards it working her way around the numerous desks, chairs and other obstacles that made the office a veritable minefield.

The closer she got, the more she felt that she knew the person who was in charge. A butterfly started to flutter in her stomach.

There seemed to be a abundance of pink and on one wall, a large selection of decorative plate's with cat pictures on.

Several more butterfly's joined the first one. ~Oh no~ she thought ~ Not her~ her heart dropped.

The chair swiveled round slowly 'Ah yes, Miss Granger.' A huge smile graced her face. 'The answer is No.'

'Polyjuice?' Ron asked.

Harry sighed, 'I expect so.' He looked at Ron 'You Know I'd love to go through a day without being attacked by people.'

'Tell me about it, you seem to be a magnet for trouble.'

Harry smirked 'You don't seem to do so bad yourself Ron.'

They laughed as each cast a Levitation Charm on a prone wizard and started to walk from the office with the bound bodies floating beside them as they came out of the door to find a number of wizards in Auror robes applauding them.

The one at the front made a final note on the clipboard and held out his hand 'Good morning Mr Potter.'

Harry didn't take the extended hand and he looked puzzled. 'What's going on?' he asked by now thoroughly confused, his wand hand was moving to cover the crowd in front of him. Ron was doing the same.

'Ah, let me explain. I am Gawain Robards.'

Ginny knocked on the door of the office that had been pointed out to her.

'Come in.' said the voice from inside.

Ginny opened the door and walked into the office. Behind the desk sat a wizard with grey hair and a small pair of spectacles. 'Can I help you Miss?'

'Weasley.' she said with aplomb 'and I hope you can.'

'Arthur's daughter?, well I'm sure that we will be able to sort something out. Please have a seat.' he indicated towards a couple of old chairs in front of the desk.

Ginny sat down an took her Hogwarts letter out of her robes. ' Mr Brown, I am about to enter my final year at Hogwarts, in addition to my NEWT's, I shall also be captaining the Gryffindor Quidditch team.'

'Congratulations.' he replied

'Thank you.' she said simply 'When I leave Hogwarts, I would love to play Quidditch professionally. So what I would like is to be able to contact the teams to see who might have an opening for a chaser next year.'

Mr Brown looked at her over the tops of his spectacles. 'Hmm, I'm afraid I cannot acceed to your request Miss Weasley. We do not routinely give out the personal contact details of the teams.'

Her heart fell but Mr Brown continued on.

'I can however contact them on your behalf and advise them that you are "in the market" as it were. That way they keep their privacy and you get what you would like.'

Ginnys face which a moment previously had fallen now lit up with a huge grin on it.

'Most teams send scouts to Hogwarts each year to see what the playing standard is like of the final year students but the message from you will guarantee that they all turn up, at least for the Gryffindor matches.'

'Tell me Miss Weasley, is there any team in particular that you are interested in?'

'The Harpies.' she almost shouted it out but managed to control herself.'

'Ah yes, well I will make an effort to ensure that I tell them that when I write to Gwenog Jones. To advise her of your interest.'

'Thank you.' said Ginny almost speechless.

'And as your planning on joining a team then I see no reason not to give you this.' as he slid a package over the desk towards her.

'Whats this?' she asked curiously.

'Registration forms for the professional Quidditch league, every player needs to be registered with us here at the Ministry, you might as well have a look through the forms and fill them out. I have no doubt that you'll have interest, probably from several teams.'

'How do you know?' she asked not feeling too comfortable with the fact that this unknown wizard seemed to know about her playing ability.

'I make it a point to make at least two matches a year at Hogwarts to see the house teams. After all, I am one of the selectors for the England Quidditch team. I saw you play two years ago, admittedly as a seeker rather than chaser but even so I could see the talent. I was also lucky enough to see Mr Potter play in his second year but I haven't since and I hear that the Minister is trying to tempt him into the Auror Office in any case so we'll probably never see him play professionally.' he sighed even as he handled another package in his hands

Ginny smiled at him. 'I'm afraid it's gone further than that, Mr Brown. It's not a big secret and it'll hit the Daily Prophet this afternoon anyway but I can tell you that Harry and my brother Ron signed on as Aurors about half an hour ago.'

'Really?, Well I suppose it's for the best.' He sat looking a bit dejected 'I wish I could have got him a season on a team just to see if the promise he showed was fulfilled. I guess we'll never find out now more's the pity.' He put the other package away in a drawer and absently looked around the office as if Ginny wasn't even there, lost in his own thoughts.

She started to feel angry. Angry at someone from her past. It took her a moment to realise that the anger wasn't her own. ~Harrys really pissed with someone~ she thought. A moment later an image flashed into her mind ~HER!~ she didn't want to miss this.

'Mr Brown, Thank you for your support but I need to leave now.' She tried to keep her voice level as Harry's anger raged inside her.

'What?' He looked up 'Oh yes by all means Miss Weasley, I'm sure you have things to do but if you want to chat, my door is always open.'

'Thank you.' She replied as she clutched the thick envelope and headed off to the Auror department as fast as she could walk.

Mr Brown watched her go ~I just hope she's still playing when the next world cup comes round~ he mused.

'If you're Gawain Robards, then who are these two?' Harry gestured behind him and Ron with his free hand. The wand continue to sweep across the crowd.

'Just a test Harry.' Said Kingsley walking through from the back of the crowd.

Harry and Ron looked even more confused.

'Harry,' Kingsley spoke as he walked through the crowd 'just to confirm that this is me, about fifteen minutes ago I asked you and Ron to return to Hogwarts next year to set up the DA and provide teaching assistance for Defense against the dark arts at Hogwarts next year.' and surprise rippled through the crowd with him as the group absorbed the information.

Harry and Ron lowered their wands.

'In that case Minsiter, who did we just hex?'

Gawain shrugged 'Neville Longbottom and John Dawlish. Actually I'd appreciate it if we could have them back.'

'Oh right.' Harry and Ron turned round, levitated the bodies to the floor and removed the body binds. Neville grinned up at them from the floor as Harry offered him a hand to get up.

'Nice to meet you to.' he said once he was upright again.

'How did they do John?' asked Kingsley.

'Excellent!' he replied after Ron had helped him to his feet. 'They didn't hesitate when confronted with what looked like a death eater and then obviously they managed to detect me through my disillusionment Charm. Even better they disabled both of us swiftly and quietly and without resorting to extreme measures. One or both of them was also casting non-verbal spells.'

Harry sighed, 'That was me.' clearly wishing that he could keep that bit quiet.

'Not only that' piped up Neville 'but when he disarmed me, Harry wasn't even holding his wand.' this caused another excited stir through the crowd.

Even Ron looked over at Harry with a touch of awe. 'Wow.' was all he could say.

'Alright people, shows over, back to work.' Kingsley broke up the crowd with a wave of his hand and the Aurors started to head back to their respective desks, but continued to shoot covert glances back towards to group. Gawain turned 'Mr Potter, Mr Weasley let's have a chat in my office.' He led them in and Kingsley followed them. With a wave of his wand he righted the chairs that had been overturned during the brief altercation earlier.

He sat down the other side of the desk and looked at the two young wizards across from him. 'Firstly let me welcome you to the Auror department. Feel free to call me Gawain within the department but outside of this office, it is Auror Robard's. In the same way you will be Harry and Ron in here, I've found that it helps people to bond if they are on a first name basis.' he paused as he let this sink in.

Harry approved of the use of first names and thinking back he realised that it was probably one of the things that made the DA such a cohesive group.

'Secondly, sorry about the test. Kingsley sent a Patronus down ahead of you so we didn't have much time to prepare anything. The reason for the test was two fold. Number one, we needed to gauge your reactions to such situations. I would have grave concerns about any prospective Auror who simply froze up in that situation as it could place their colleagues at risk in the field. Obviously in your case, that won't be a problem. Number two, is that we have all heard in general terms of your exploits of the last few years, and although I am not saying that I don't believe what I've heard, I wanted to be sure that they weren't exaggerations. Again you both acquitted yourselves admirably, Harry particularly so.'

He looked directly at him 'How long have you been able to do wandless magic?'

Harry thought about it. 'To be honest Gawain, the only other time I can recall was when I was fleeing Voldamort after leaving my Aunts house for the last time. However I'm pretty convinced that it was due to Voldamorts wand and mine being twins rather than a conscious effort from myself.'

'Twins?' questioned Gawain as Kingsley leaned in with interest.

'Dumbledore's phoenix gave two feathers that were used to make wands. One resides in my wand, the other in Voldamorts original wand. It causes all sorts of interesting effects which I can cover later if your interested.' trying to draw a line under the subject even though both Gawain and Kingsley were looking at him with great interest.

'Very well.' continued Gawain 'Now Kingsley tells me that you've signed the contracts for the Ministry, all I need you do is take these books and read them before you return in September and if you could draw your wands for me please.' Harry and Ron stood up and held their wands vertically.

Gawain continued 'As per the Ministers recommendation, you are hereby both accepted as Aurors for the Ministry of Magic of Great Britain and her Islands. Furthermore, do you both promise to uphold the magical laws of the Ministry and fight dark magic wheresoever it may be found.' as he said this Gawain's wand was describing a complicated patten in the air causing tendrils of light to loop around their wand arms

They glanced at each other grinning before responding 'We do.'

'Therefore, by the right of the position of Head Auror of the Ministry of Magic of Great Britain and her Islands I hereby accept your wands.' the tendrils sunk into their wand arms in the blink of an eye.

'Welcome to the Ministry Auror Potter and Auror Weasley.' said Gawain now grinning.

'Glad to have you on board Harry, Ron.' Kingsley was also openly grinning 'By the way, this should help you out with that other little problem we were discussing earlier, those goblins will think twice before trying anything against Ministry employees.'

There was a knock on the door and Neville came in 'Great!' he exclaimed 'Now it's not just me.'

Harry and Ron looked in surprise at Neville 'You signed up as well?'

'Yep.' he said happliy, 'Gran was over the moon.'

At that point Hermione turned up at the office door in tears and went straight to Ron.

Over the next ten minutes or so they gently coxed the story out of her.

Ginny arrived just after Hermione had finished. 'Harry, are you alright?, I could feel that you're very angry about something.' her face was a mask of concern. Kingsley and Gawain looked puzzled but said nothing.

'Oh he's that alright' said Ron 'Although I think seething might be a better description, it certainly sums up my feelings right now.'

'Can you tell me what's going on?' asked Ginny.

'One word, Umbridge.' Ron spat out.

Harry got control of himself 'Yes it's Umbridge, let me tell you what she's done this time.'

Ginny was now sat in a chair while Harry paced up and down the room, His temper hadn't improved much. 'So in a nutshell, she's currently running the Department of Magical Transportation. Where she has initiated a prosecution against me for illegal apparition over the last year, revoked Hermione and Ron's apparition licenses and also refused to grant any of us permission to use either floo or port keys.'

'That's just what she could get her hands on at short notice, she was looking for other things she could do when I stormed out.' Hermione had stopped crying now and was joining the others in their anger. 'I believe you two are also on her list.' she said to Ginny and Neville.

'In that case.' Ginny stated determinedly 'Head Auror Robard's , Minister, I have some information that may be of use to you...'

Kingsley sat down and looked at Gawain. Harry and the others had just left the room and even now were heading to the Department of Magical Transport. He grinned widely 'That was a very good suggestion Gawain. I might have some trouble topping that one for a while.'

Gawain who also had a large smile on his face replied 'Simple logic, Dolores was fairly high on the list that Dawlish prepared for you of those who were 'unreliable.' Up until now though we've not had enough time to charge her and she was apparently doing a competent job where she was so we left her alone for the moment. You know just how stretched we are right now.'

Kingsley just shook his head 'If I had known all the details I'd have sent you in the second after Voldamort hit the floor. There is no place in this ministy for people like that. At least it's in hand now.'

Gawain looked at Kingsley slyly, 'Speaking of 'in hand', we have just sent out newest Aurors out on their first mission. I believe that we should er... supervise the mission, just as a precaution you understand. We wouldn't want the wizarding community to think that we just let new Aurors run around uncontrolled.'

Kingsley who was trying to conceal a smirk replied 'That's another very good suggestion Auror Robards. We could view it as an educational exercise, I'm sure that our new Aurors would appreciate a professional assessment of their first mission.'

They both laughed and then left the room hurriedly so that they could catch up with the group.

With Harry in the lead, they walked quickly through the corridors of the Ministry. Most of the wizards and witches that saw the group could see that something was happening and inevitably a smaller group formed up behind the five. It was this group that Kingsley and Gawain caught up to and joined as they reached the lifts.

Looking at the congestion as twenty or so wizards tried to get into the single lift Kingsley motioned towards the stairs and they quickly opened the door and started to move down the stairwell.

'You do know that you've upset Wilber Brown don't you?' Kingsley said to Gawain.

'How did I manage to upset the grand old man of Quidditch this time?' he asked 'I haven't been laying anymore friendly bets with him since that one that cost him at the world cup.'

'Harry Potter. Wilber wanted him on a professional team for a couple of years to see if the talent he showed at Hogwarts was going to mature into world cup material.'

Gawain winced 'I guess that would do it but from what I've heard of our Mr Potter he wouldn't be happy leaving the fight against the Dark Arts to others. Besides I wanted him in my Auror department.'

'You and every other department head in the building. I declined to pass on the various missives that had been generously supplied, the one for Department of International Magical Cooperation ran to ten sheets of parchment.'

Gawain raised his eyebrows, 'I thought I was pushing my luck at a sheet and a half. So they never actually got to Harry then?' he asked.

'No' said Kingsley as they rounded the last set of stairs. 'I've seen from previous Ministers actions that if the Minister and by extension the Ministry tries to push Mr Potter down a certain path then he tends to push back quite firmly. After all, one of the reasons that the three of them were off on their own last year is that the Minister tried to push him into being a poster boy for the Ministry and he didn't trust them or him for it.'

Kingsley held the door to floor six and they went through, noting as they passed that the lift still didn't appear to have started out from the second floor.

'And how did Scrimgeour take it?'

'Quite badly, he was seething for days when he returned from meeting Harry at Dumbledore's funeral.

They had arrived at the Department of Magical Transportation and they could clearly hear the raised voices from inside.

Harry, Flanked by Neville and Ron strode into the Department of Magical Transportation and immediately made a bee line for the raised desk in the corner again having to move around the desks and other items that seem to be strewn around the office randomly. Ginny and Hermione held back a little bit, ready to cover the room if required although the department seem to have ground to a halt and all attention was being focused on the corner that the three Aurors were rapidly converging on. The wizards and witches on the closer desks were carefully moving out of the way as if they could tell this was a classic showdown building and whilst they very much wanted to watch, they most certainly did not want to do so from the middle of any firing line..

Harry stopped short of the desk and drew his wand. Ron and Neville did the same.

There was a quiet pause. A pin could have dropped in that room and everyone would have heard it. After a few seconds, the chair slowly rotated squeaking in protest all the way, until it finally stopped and Umbridge faced down the three.

'Well now Mr Potter' Said Umbridge her voice was happy and excited, her smile was telling them that she thought Christmas had come early for her. 'I've been so looking forward to meeting you again.' Every word was wrapped in sweetness but Harry was under no illusion that her intent was anything but sweet. 'Now I don't need to send out the warrant for your arrest. I can carry out that happy action myself.' She was almost in ecstasy. She fixed him in her gaze 'Harry Jam..'

She got no further as Harry interrupted her by shouting 'DOLORES JANE UMBRIDGE'

Her mouth snapped shut and she looked mortally offended.

'You have been accused of ordering Dementors to attack another wizard, of concealing evidence from the Wizengamot, of sending innocent Muggle-born wizards to Azkaban and most seriously of proposing the use an unforgivable curse against a another wizard.'

'Accused by who?' she snapped back. 'By a delusional little boy who himself is a convicted criminal.' She took a deep breath 'I don't know what authority you think you might have Mr Potter but I can assure you that I have the full weight of Ministry behind me and you are under arrest for illegal apparition.'

'Well Firstly, I was never actually convicted of any crime, I'm sure you'll recall the Wizengamot cleared me even though certain people were withholding vital evidence and secondly Auror Weasley, what authority do you think we have?' Umbridges face dropped.

'Auror Potter, I believe we do have the authority to arrest witches and wizards against whom accusations of a serious nature have been made and for whom we have suitable evidence to prove those crimes. Although I'm sure that Dolores.' Ron savoured the name 'would like a second opinion. That's fair isn't it Auror Longbottom.'

Umbridge's eyes started to bulge as she turned her head towards Neville.

'Certainly Auror Weasley I do recall that certain vow that we all took recently and I'm pretty sure that offering to use the Cruciatus curse on people because they're not saying what you want them to, does qualify the witch in question an extended stay in Azkabhan all by itself. But that would be on top of the other charges that we have been made aware of. ' Neville's eye blazed at the mention of the curse that had done so much to blight his childhood.

'Well' said Harry. 'That's good enough for me.' He raised his wand.

'WAIT.' Shouted Umbridge, 'Where is this evidence you speak of? Who will testify against me?' She gazed around the department, the wizards and witches quailed under the gaze 'See no one will say anything so you have no case.' She had regained some of her composure but then Ginny and Hermione stepped forwards.

'We might be able to help you out there.' Hermione said, a smile on her face

'Yes.' Ginny chipped in 'I believe that about ten minutes ago the head of the Auror Department and the Minister for Magic received sworn statements confirming the details of your actions from the two of us.'

'And, when the head Auror and the Minister asked for details, my colleagues and I were duty bound to tell the truth.' said Harry. 'By the way Auror Weasley, can we add attempted intimidation of witness's to the charge sheet?'

'I think we can manage that Auror Potter.' in this case the comment came from Kingsley at the back of the room.

'Auror Potter, have you effected the arrest yet?' Gawain stepped into the room next to Kingsley.

'Not yet Auror Robards, the suspect is under the impression that we have no authority to arrest her. 'A misconception' he paused as he non-verbally cast a body bind on her 'that I am happy to correct.' They all watched as slowly toppled backwards.

Neville stepped up and leaned down to her 'As Auror Potter was saying, you are under arrest for ordering dementors to attack another wizard; of concealing evidence from the Wizengamot: sending innocent Muggle-born wizards to Azkaban and of attempting intimidating witness's. The Ministry will appoint you a lawyer if you require one, but until such time as you are presented before the Wizengamot we will confiscate your wand.' He plucked it from her pocket. 'If you are found innocent of all charges, your wand will be returned to you.'

'Well done Auror Longbottom! If you don't mind, I'll take it from here.' Gawain took his wand out and levitated the bound body out of the room taking the wand with him. As he reached the door he turned back to them. 'Aurors Potter, Weasley and Longbottom. What are you still doing here? I am ordering you on mandatory rest break to last until 1st September when I expect you to do your special duties.'

The three of the saluted with their wands and through the grins replied 'Yes Sir!'.


	5. Chapter 5

The group walked through the atrium towards the fireplaces and Neville split off towards a separate fire place. Waving awkwardly with one hand as he left the group and threw a pinch of floo powder into the fire place. 'See you in September guys.' as he turned to the fireplace and said 'Willow tree cottage' before stepping into the emerald flames.

Harry and the others waved back as best they could as they also had new Auror robes in their hands, that Kingsley has suggested they might want to take. Harry planned to wear his for every funeral he was to attend. Partly out of respect but also, he hoped, to deter the rogue goblins from doing anything stupid during the funerals.

Harry and Ginny also had a brief follow up meeting with Cuthbert Mockridge in the Goblin Liaison Office. Cuthbert was going to get a rough calculation of the actual cost of the damage to the bank, before Harry and Ginny met the board to thrash out an agreement. The board had also agreed to investigate who this group of rogue goblins were, although the representative was dismissive of the possibility that they were Gringotts goblins. As Kingsley was going to release the news that Harry and Ron were now Aurors to the Daily Prophet as soon as he could. Cuthbert agreed that the investigation and news article would probably keep the rogue goblins from trying an open kidnapping again. Meanwhile, the order had been strengthening the security around the Burrow and they all felt that there was no further need to keep Harry locked away in the Ministry for his own safety, much to Harry's relief.

Hermione was clutching an old boot and a letter of introduction for the Australian Ministry of Magic. The Port Key was set to trigger in just over a week and take her and Ron to the Australian Ministry in Sydney, so that they could start trying to locate Hermione's parents. The weeks gap would give them time to attend the funerals of Lupin, Tonks, Colin Creevey and Fred. Kingsley had already contacted the Australian Ministry and they had started to try and locate where her parents had settled. With any luck, by the time Ron and Hermione got there, they would know where they were. All three of them also now had valid apparition licenses and Harry's had been back dated to avoid anyone else trying to accuse him of illegal apparition over the last year.

Ginny had the least to carry. She threw the floo powder into the fireplace for each of them. They stepped in one by one and disappeared to the Burrow before she finally threw the last pinch into the flames clearly spoke 'The Burrow' and stepped into the flames.

As she stepped out of the fireplace into the familiar kitchen of the Burrow, she could see that her mother was already dispensing her famous bone crushing hugs around them and the various packages they were carrying. Ginny was also quickly enveloped as she stepped forwards before Molly stepped back and looked at them warily. Ginny noticed her Dad and Bill were also sat at the table watching with interest.

'Well!' Said Molly 'I can't say that I'm not happy to have you all here again...' She paused '...but Bill gave us the impression that it was not going to safe for you to be out in the open like this.'

'Circumstances have changed mum.' Ron started. 'Why don't we all get a drink and we can tell you about it.'

Molly looked like she wanted to demand answers right away but managed to curb her curiosity. She started to make a pot of tea and set Ginny and Ron collecting glasses and pumpkin juice. Harry, Hermione, Bill and Arthur retired to the sitting room.

'Harry, I never did get a chance to continue that discussion with you earlier regarding you apparently being able to feel what Ginny was feeling and thinking. In fact, I never got to ask her if she had been angry before all hell broke loose.'

'When was this Mr Weasley?' Hermione asked 'because if it was just before you knocked on her door then yes she was very angry, I was trying to calm her down a bit before I suddenly remembered my parents.'

'Ahhh, and would I be right in assuming that it had something to do with me taking her boyfriend away for a chat without her being present?' He looked knowingly at Hermione.

Hermione hid her surprise well. She responded but hadn't expected this sort of insight from Mr Weasley 'That was part of it. If you want more details, you'll need to ask her I'm afraid Mr Weasley.'

'Please Hermione, just Arthur will do. After all you're practically family as well.' He turned back to Harry.

'Harry, it would appear that you really are connected to Ginny. Most unusual' he mused 'I wonder if it works both ways?'

'I think we can confirm that as a definite yes Arthur.' replied Harry. 'I was in the Ministry and I got rather angry over something that Dolores Umbridge had done and Ginny arrived wanting to know why I was so angry.' Hermione nodded in agreement.

Bill was looking a bit surprised. 'What are you saying dad?' he asked.

'It appears that Harry and Ginny are bonded on a fairly deep level, something similar to the link that Harry once shared with you-know-who, but more benign. At the moment it appears that they can sense each other's feelings when those feelings are particularly strong.'

Bill looked in awe at Harry, 'I'm not saying that I don't believe you Harry but I'd like to see a demonstration, do you know what Ginny is feeling right now?'

Harry looked nervously around the room 'I can try.' he said 'but I've never consciously tried this and I worked as hard as I could to stop the connection between Voldemort and myself.' Hermione thought back to discussions they had during their fifth year but didn't say anything.

Harry closed his eyes 'I think she's irritated with her mum right now.' but he got no further as the door to the kitchen opened and Molly, Ron and Ginny walked in bearing trays of glasses and drinks.

'Ginny, stop shaking those glasses around and put them down gently' her mother reproved. Ginny placed them on a coffee table with bad grace. 'Honestly Ginny, I only asked you what you and Harry were planning to do over the summer.'

'Mother, stop prying, Harry and I haven't had time to discuss it yet.'

The Weasley men exchanged fairly significant looks, as Arthur stepped in to stop the spat between his wife and daughter before it escalated into a full blown shouting match.'Right then, let's get the drinks sorted out then perhaps we can find out why Harry and the others feel safe enough to come out of the Ministry.'

They all settled down, drinks in hand. Ginny, much to her mother's annoyance was sat on Harry's lap. Hermione and Ron were on a double sofa holding hands.

'How about you start by telling us why you think it's safe enough for you to come back to the Burrow?' Arthur asked.

'Well' said Harry nervously looking at Ginny's parents. 'Firstly we have been given to understand that the defences around the Burrow have been significantly strengthened over the last few hours. Secondly, Gringotts themselves are now actively looking for the goblins, even if they refuse to admit that some of them at least are likely to be Gringotts goblins. And thirdly, the Ministry now has a couple of Aurors to hand as it were.' Harry was fidgeting, he didn't know how the Weasley parents were going to take the news that he and Ron wouldn't return to Hogwarts, at least not as students.

'I don't understand what you mean Harry dear.' chipped in a puzzled Mrs Weasley.

Ginny rolled her eyes, she could feel the tension in him, like a small animal cornered by a predator, coiled ready to run as soon as a chance presented itself. ~He doesn't know how to deal with an inquisitive mother~ she thought ~At least, not one who wants to know out of love~ Her heart went out to him again and she stepped in to save his blushes, noting in passing that Ron had his mouth clamped shut.

'What Auror Potter means is that he and Auror Weasley' she indicated her brother 'are going to be around for most of the summer, at least until September the first.'

Bill was the first to react, he jumped up and shook both Harry and Ron's hands. Molly was less impressed though.

'Does that mean that you are not going to complete your schooling? What about your NEWTS? It was bad enough when Fred a...' she stopped talking and started weeping as Mr Weasley moved to comfort her. Everyone else in the room suddenly became very interested in the paintwork or the wallpaper.

A few minutes later Mrs Weasley had calmed down enough to blow her nose and look around the room. As her eyes fell on Harry and Ginny she gasped.

Apart from the fact that they were tightly wound around each other, it was also clear that neither of them was conscious.

Harry was decidedly uncomfortable with Mrs Weasleys reaction. He still felt it was all his fault that so many had died, if only he had got to Hogwarts sooner. If he had figured out quicker what he needed to do, maybe Fred would still be here. His mood sunk, the joys of the last few hours paled into insignificance. He closed his eyes and let the darkness take hold of him after all he had let his adopted family down, his Godson would grow up without his parents.

Ginny felt the depression seep into her but she quickly realised that it was coming from Harry. ~You idiot!~ she thought ~It's not your fault, no one blames you.~ she closed her eyes and held tightly onto him. As the same time she let her heart open to him and reminded herself just how much she loved him, the way his black hair wouldn't stay put, the way she could fall into his eyes and the feelings of safety she had whenever he held her. She concentrated on those thoughts to try and push back the oppressive dark blanket that Harry seemed to be wrapping himself and his feelings in.

Harry was barley aware of his surroundings as he wallowed in self-pity. He was floating alone in the darkness and he had no inclination to try and get out. It was, after all, what he deserved. Heroes got there in time to save everyone and no one died.

As he was dwelling on the deaths of Lupin and Tonks, he slowly became aware of another presence with him. He couldn't see who it was but he could feel them. Someone wanted him, after all his failures, someone still wanted him. His mood started to lift a bit.

~No~ the darkness fought back ~You failed them, just like you failed Sirius~

He started to sink again only for her warm feelings for him start to lift him again. ~Her~ he thought it was definitely feelings of a female but who?

Suddenly Ginny's awareness broke the melancholy net that was holding Harry ~Harry~ she thought with relief.

~Ginny?~ he thought in a puzzled manner ~What's going on?~

~I might ask you that Mr Potter~ she retorted ~You're blaming yourself again, that much I can feel but it's not your fault!~ she almost screamed the thought at him. ~Voldemort started the war, all you did was finish it.~

Harry was taken aback by the strength of her convictions ~But I should have got there sooner, if I had gone to the forest earlier maybe Fred or Lupin or Tonks would still be alive.~

~AND MAYBE I WOULD BE DEAD!~ There was a shocked silence before Ginny continued ~We all went into that battle willingly, we all knew the risks. I went into that battle by your side, I chose to make a stand with you for better or worse. So did everyone else.~ She'd gone further this time, perhaps too far but she felt that unless Harry could stop blaming himself then these deep depressions were going to be an all too frequent occurrence.

Harry was stunned. His first reaction was to tell Ginny that she didn't have a clue what he was going through but as she continued to speak her mind, Harry listened and started to understand that she, and no one else, had made the choice to fight that day; And not just about the battle but about her life and that of others and the future of wizard kind. They had all stood on the line and said "enough!" Okay they hadn't been required to die like he had but they all understood that it was a very real possibility.

~Ginny, I'm sorry. It's just that I feel responsible for those deaths. I just hoped that I could go off somewhere and finish it off without anyone else getting hurt~ He focused on her ~especially you~

~Voldamort chose the battle ground Harry, not you~ Ginny shot back, secretly smiling at his admission while he reflected more soberly on Ginny's comments. He still felt guilty that people had died but perhaps she was right. He did what he did in reaction to Voldamorts actions so it wasn't completely his fault. He still felt responsibility for the deaths of his friends but he was beginning to realise that he had never asked anyone to stand with him, not even Ron and Hermione. In fact he'd actively tried to discourage everyone else. ~Damn~ he thought ~Who would listen to the chosen one though, at least on this point.~

~It's a start~ thought Ginny as she could feel Harry's spirits begin to lift.

Harry took stock of his current situation and started to understand that he was far more lucky than he originally thought. ~What would I do without you Ginny?~ she could feel the love starting to flow back to her from Harry now, the darkness was slowly being banished for another day.

~Lets hope we never find out.~ she replied.

~Erm Ginny?~

~Yes Harry~

~We're not speaking out loud are we?~

~Of course we ...oh.~ she thought

~Time to wake up?~ he mentally grinned at her.

~Yep, then I guess we're going to have to talk about this, I'm not sure about you but is freaks me out a little bit.~

'Well they're still breathing fine.' Said Hermione taking the mirror away from Harry's mouth. Molly had stopped crying and was now very worried about her daughter and her boyfriend.

Mr Weasley looked at his wife and said 'Don't worry Molly, I'm sure they're fine.'

'How can you say that? They're not moving and we can't get any reaction out of them. We should be getting them to St Mungo's, not talking about whether they are breathing or not.'

'Actually Mum, that may not be the best idea.' Bill looked thoughtfully at the couple. 'I think this was probably an inevitable consequence given what Dad noted earlier.'

Molly wheeled on her husband. 'What's going on Arthur Weasley?' she demanded bearing down on him.

For once Arthur didn't look phased. 'I'm not a hundred percent certain Molly but I believe they may be bonded. Not just that, but bonded on a level similar to the link that Harry shared with you-know-who.'

Molly hand went to her mouth as she gasped.

'There have been a few hints recently, both Harry and Ginny seem to be more aware of what the other is feeling, they can actually feel each other's anger.'

Not only that,' added Bill 'but when Harry tried consciously to link to Ginny he could also tell who was with her at the time.' He paused to gather his thoughts 'Fleur and I have had a fairly deep bond since our wedding, mainly due her Veela heritage, so I've experienced this first hand. I was sceptical that they could have such a bond yet when dad first broached it the topic a few minutes ago, so he asked Harry to tell us what Ginny was feeling.'

Mr Weasley took over 'Harry said that she was irritated with you dear.' he took her hand.

'and straight after that, Ginny walked in arguing with you about their plans for the summer.' Bill piped up 'I couldn't hear the argument from in here until you came in and Harry was further from the door than I was so I'm sure he didn't over hear you.'

'I thought that bonds only formed between married couples and even then they are rarely very deep?' said Hermione.

'Normally that would be true.' Replied Mr Weasley 'However, Harry and Ginny's relationship can hardly be said to be "normal" by any stretch of the imagination.' Molly looked scandalised at this last comment and was on the verge of interrupting her husband when he continued 'I don't mean that, they're not like any teenage couple.' This mollified Molly slightly and Arthur pressed on 'but if you look at what's happened to them, both have been connected with you-know-who. Harry since he was a year old and Ginny from her first year.'

'And Ginny has been infatuated with Harry for a long time' Hermione added 'When you also take into account the fact that he actually died for Ginny a couple of days ago it's not difficult to see why such a bond might have formed.' Bill's eyes widened at this piece of news but he said nothing.

Molly sagged in defeat. 'I always knew there was something between them.' She mused 'I just didn't realise how serious it was.' Tears formed in her eyes 'My little girl is growing up.' She stroked Ginnys cheek 'I hoped that we'd have a few more years.'

'Mum, I know this will be difficult for you.' Molly looked up to see Ron looking at her and she was surprised to see tears in his eyes as well. 'But you have to let her go as your little girl. Just as I have had to accept that she's no longer my little sister either.' He smiled through the tears 'On the other hand, who else would you trust to look after her? She's with Harry Potter and I can guarantee that he will never let anything harm her.'

'Here! Here!' Said Bill who was just about holding back the tears.

They stood around for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Hermione was holding onto Ron fiercely, immensely proud of him for finally accepting Harry and Ginny.

Finally Arthur broke the silence. 'So what is going on now?' he asked, 'They've been like that for a while.'

'It looks like the same problem that Harry had back at Hogwarts.' Hermione looked at the group 'Harry blames himself for the deaths that occurred during the battle.'

Mollys face dropped, 'And I reminded him by mentioning Fred.' she said as her tears started to come again.

This time Ron stepped in 'Mum, don't worry' he said 'if it hadn't been that then one of us would have said something to set him off. Every so often it just overwhelms him. He did the same after Sirius was killed as well.'

'I can only assume that Ginny is offering him some form of support.' said Hermoine 'But it could be a while. Harry was out for several hours yesterday.'

'Right then!' said Molly decisively clapping her hands together 'Time enough to get dinner cooked then. Ron you can help me, let's leave them in peace for a few hours.'

'I had best be off home' said Bill 'Fleur is expecting me in half an hour. Can you say goodbye to them for me dad? And let them know if they want to discuss bonds with Fleur or myself they can just drop in. Bye all.' He waved to the group and headed out of the sitting room, they heard the front door swing shut as he walked outside for the short trek to the edge of the extra wards that were now in place around the burrow.

'I'll be happy to help as well Molly' said Hermione 'After the last few months I'd quite like to learn some cooking charms properly instead of trying to pick it up from a book.'

'I guess that leaves me to keep an eye on the children then.' Mr Weasley commented as he took his wand out and waved it through the air. 'Accio Prophet!' and that morning's paper flew to his hands.

He sat down opposite the couple and started to read.

Ginny opened her eyes first and found herself looking at Harry's hair, as she moved her head up she shifted her weight slightly to relieve the pain she had developed in her bottom. She reflected that although sitting someone's lap sounded romantic, it did have it's drawbacks.

She slowly realised that the room was mostly empty. As she looked around she saw the paper twitch from the chair in the corner and her dad's face appeared over the top of it. The blush started almost instantly as she realised that she was sitting in a pretty compromising position with Harry in her parents' house. Cheek's glowing red, she stood up quickly as if Harry was suddenly on fire.

'Erm, Hi Dad?' She said nervously, not knowing if she was in trouble or not. She reached over and shook Harry 'Harry' she hissed.

'Wah?' he replied groggily.

'So your back with us then?' said Mr Weasley cheerfully. Ginny breathed a sigh of relief but the blush wasn't shifting that easy.

'Harry, how are you?' asked a concerned Mr Weasley.

Harry was blinking and looking around a bit confused 'Erm? I'm fine I think Arthur.' He looked up and spotted Ginny standing looking slightly nervous still and blushing bright red.

He went to stand up to hug her and offer support.

'Giiiiiny' he called as his legs gave way and he fell to the floor with a loud thump. He rolled over to massage his legs which seemed to have stopped working.

It was this scene that Molly, Ron and Hermione charged in to see. Harry recumbant on the floor massarging his legs, Ginny bent over in fits of laughter and Mr Weasley trying keep a straight face and failing.

'What happened? Harry dear are you okay?' Mrs Weasley's voice mirrored the concern on her face.

'I'm okay Mrs Weasley.' said Harry from the floor 'I tried to get up and my legs just went from underneath me.'

'Well Harry, you have had Ginny sat on them for the best part of two hours.' Mr Weasley chuckled having managed to get his laughter under control.

Ginny stopped giggling immediately and the colour drained from her face 'Two Hours?' she asked her eyes wide open as she looked down at Harry. 'I thought it was only a few minutes.' her voice going strangely quiet.

'It certainly didn't seem all that long.' said Harry in puzzled tone. 'What have we missed?'

'Dinner preparation!' said Ron promptly, 'In fact we've been waiting for you to wake so that we could eat.'

'Far be it from me to keep my brothers stomach from joining in the discussion on what the hell just happened' said Ginny with a smile on her face again.

'OY!' replied Ron indignantly as Ginny helped Harry up from the floor.

'Actually Ron, as long as it's not mushrooms, I think I could manage to force some food down me.' Said Harry who was bobbing and stretching to try and remove the feeling of pins and needles in his legs.

'I thought you liked mushrooms Harry?' Said Mrs Weasley as Ginny looked on confused.

'I did' Said Harry

'Right up until that was pretty much all we had to eat for weeks on end. Harry, I'd almost forgotten the mushrooms.' Complained Ron.

'Dinner doesn't involve any mushrooms you'll be glad to hear.' Said Mrs Weasley 'So let's go and eat before it gets cold and I have to cast a warming charm.'

Dinner proved to be as good as any meal that Harry had eaten at Hogwarts and true to Molly's word, there were no mushrooms in evidence.

As they ate, Harry and Ginny filled the rest of the Weasley's in on their mental conversation and Mr Weasley with help from Hermione tried to put Molly at ease over the bond that they suspected existed between Ginny and Harry.

Harry cleared his throat 'Erm Molly, Arthur, I didn't mean to form this bond.' He paused as a pain shot through his hand and up his arm as Ginny has gripped his had very tightly. He didn't even need to look down to feel just how pissed off she was. He grimaced and carried on. 'At least not until we were both ready to take that step and we were both happy that it was right.' The grip relaxed a bit and Harry, fortunately, got the feeling back in his fingers. 'and I had asked your permission first.'

Ginny looked at Harry in surprise 'You've actually been thinking about this haven't you!' she accused.

Harry returned her look 'Ginny for the last eight months, I've thought only of the quests and you and thinking about you was the only thing that kept me going on the quests. Now that Voldermort is gone I want to spend as much time as possible being, well "us". Rather than 'Ginny and Harry'.' Tears formed in Ginny's eyes and she hugged Harry closely to hide them but he could feel the love and support emanating from her.

He turned to Ginny's parents. 'Molly, Arthur, it was never my intention to steal your daughter from you. I've no idea how or why this bond formed but it has and Ginny and I will have to live with the consequences. To answer your question of two nights ago Mr Weasley my intentions towards you daughter are nothing other than honourable so I would like to ask you and Molly if I have your permission to court your daughter.'

Molly looked at her husband and he nodded in agreement, with tears in her eyes she turned back to Harry 'Oh Harry dear, of course you have our permission.'

'Blimey Harry. You're really serious aren't you?' Said Ron in wonder.

'Yes Ron, I've never been more serious about anything else in my life.' he replied unabashed.

Hermione looked puzzled and asked 'What's so important about this courting business?'

Arthur looked at her 'In the wizarding world, Courting is an old tradition. Generally it's seen as one step before formal engagement. It was used years ago to formally declare that the witch and wizard in question were no longer available, of course that was when arranged marriages were the norm but it's fallen out of use in last couple of hundred years.'

Hermione reached for a handkerchief and dabbed her eyes.

~Where you planning to ask me about this?~ the thought seemed to have a edge to it.

~Ginny dear...~

~Don't you "Ginny dear" me Mr Potter~ she retorted.

~Ginny, I'm sorry I didn't have time to talk to you about this before but I've just found out that I am bonded to a beautiful, if fiery young lady on a level that surpasses most married couples. Right now my main point is to distract the parents of said gorgeous girlfriend from this fact so that I can at least get out of the kitchen with all my limbs and bits attached. I didn't know about the wizarding tradition of courting though.~ he mused. ~I just thought it would be a safe start~

'Oh Harry.' she said and hugged him fiercely.

Molly had recovered by now and started to chivvy them up stairs 'Come on dears, you've got a funeral to attend tomorrow.'

Harry sighed, it was going to be a long week.

A small hand snuck into his as they climbed the stairs ~I'll be there with you Harry~ the thought crept into his mind and lifted his spirits a little.

He smiled weakly at his girlfriend ~Thanks~


	6. Chapter 6

Harry walked through the early morning mist to the great hall. He couldn't tell what the time was, but the battle was clearly over and an eerie silence hovered over the darkened room. As the sun rose he could see down both sides of the hall lay the fallen, the bodies carelessly tossed into rough lines. Harry noted that most of them were Hogwarts students and staff. Here and there a Hogsmeade resident or an order member broke up the rows of black clad student bodies. Checking around, he couldn't see any death eaters among the dead. He moved to the left side of the hall and started to slowly work his way up the macabre collection.

Something wasn't right though. Here was Mr and Mrs Weasley and someone had pinned a piece of parchment to them. Harry reached out and turned it over. "Harry Potter, it's your fault." was the comment scrawled on the sheet. Harry pulled his hand away and jerked upright, he could have sworn the note was in his handwriting. Blinking, he moved on down the line. Each body had a piece of parchment pinned to it in the same untidy script that was so familiar to him. Charlie, Bill, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and Hermione. Everyone of them with a note proclaiming that he was responsible.

He reached the end of the line. One body remained face down with a mane of red hair spreading down the back of the witch. Reluctantly Harry reached out for the shoulder of the corpse and rolled it over.

Ginny's brown eyes were open but unseeing 'Ginny...' he whispered in longing.

'How fitting.' The voice was a snake like hiss.

Harry spun round. Voldemort and all his Death Eaters were arrayed in a semi-circle. All had wands drawn and pointed directly at him.

'Join us.' whispered Voldemort, 'Join us and become truly great!' The voice grew to a crescendo.

'Never' said Harry determinedly 'I'll never join you' as he reached for his wand. It wasn't there. The Cruciatus Curse slammed through his body and he slumped to the floor thrashing.

The curse lifted and Voldemort asked again 'Join us.' All Harry could manage was to shake his head as the curse hit him again.

Harry thrashed around as the Cruciatus curse hit him again, this time from all sides. As the pain became unbearable, his body contorted into bizarre positions.

Suddenly the pain stopped. Harry with the sweat pouring off his body lay gently steaming in the clammy morning. He struggled to raise his head and look at his attackers, a defiant 'No' escaped from his lips.

Voldemort's voice had returned to a whisper again. 'Now, young Potter...you will die.'

As one, the Death Eaters drew back their wands and hurled the killing curse towards Harry. He looked up to see two dozen beams of green light getting slowly closer and brighter, he opened his mouth to scream one last time...

The sunlight streamed through the greenish glass and open curtains onto Harry's face. 'Time to get up you two!' said Mrs Weasley, as she stepped away from the window and left the room.

Harry squinted through the bright shaft of sunlight that fell on his face and put his hand to his mouth to disguise the un-uttered scream as simply a yawn. He scrabbled at the old cabinet next to his bed trying to find his glasses, the room still a blur to him. After a few seconds his hands found what they were looking for and the room swam into focus along with Ron's concerned face.

'Bad night?' Asked Ron.

Harry blinked a few times to clear his eyes 'You could say that.' He replied, still feeling cold all over. 'How did you know?'

'You were tossing and turning most of the night mate.' Ron paused briefly 'I'll remind you again though, it's not your fault. It was that nutter and he's gone for good now thanks to you.'

Harry managed to pull his mouth into a half smile 'Thanks Ron' he said with feeling. 'I guess it's going to take us some time to get over what's happened to us.'

'Speaks the King of understatement, Hermione said it will probably take us years.' he took a deep breath 'but at least we won't be doing it on our own.'

Harry didn't have to force the smile this time as he thought of Ginny 'No, I guess not.' his eyes glazed over slightly as he was lost in reflection briefly. 'I guess we'd better get up and downstairs before your mum comes and drags us out.'

Hermione woke slowly to find Ginny crouched at the end of her bed, her arms wrapped around her legs. When Ginny looked up Hermione could see the haunted look that Harry's eyes had so frequently showed in the mornings.

'Are you all-right?' she asked sitting down next to Ginny and putting an arm around her.

'Bad dream.' she shuddered, remembering the cold stiff feeling of the dream. Harry had been so close but she could do nothing but observe. She had no power over her body as he turned it over and looked into her eyes. She recalled the words of Voldemort, Harry's defiance and then the thud of his body dropping to the floor next to hers. She pulled herself together.

'Nightmare actually.' She said to Hermione.

'Do you want to talk about it? That helps sometimes.' Hermione offered.

'You'll need to talk to Harry then.' said Ginny a little bitterly. Hermione looked confused.

'I think it was his dream.' Explained Ginny. 'I guess there is a downside to this bond then.' She ran her fingers through her hair and rubbed her eyes trying to wake up. 'Actually' she mused out loud, 'I think I'll go and have a chat with him.'

Hemione nodded as Ginny got up and pulled on her dressing gown. 'I'll see you downstairs then.' said Hermione as Ginny left the room.

Ginny passed Ron on the stairs, a brief glance at her brother told Ginny that Harry had indeed suffered nightmares last night. 'Bad?' she asked.

'Pretty bad.' Ron confirmed. 'He didn't want to talk about them.' he said pointedly as Ginny just as pointedly ignored him and continued on her way up the stairs. He shook his head and knocked on Ginny's bedroom door.

'Mione, are you decent?'

'Come in Ron.' came the reply from the other side of the door.

He opened the door and walked in but quickly closed the door and averted his eyes.

'Mione' he complained 'I thought you said you were decent!' he said in a loud whisper.

'I've got underwear on Ron, it's not like you or Harry for that matter haven't seen me in this state over the last months.'

'Yes' agreed Ron 'but that was when there was no danger of my Mum walking in on us.'

Hermione went red. 'I'd forgotten about that!' and quickly grabbed a t-shirt and jeans rushing to put them on. Ron grinned in amusement at her hurried efforts but said nothing knowing that Hermione would make him regret any comments.

A minute later she was dressed. 'Better dear?' she asked.

'I dunno' said Ron, 'I didn't mind what you had on a minute ago.' and he quickly hugged her before she could retaliate.

'Ron really!' she whispered into his ear '...and in your own sister's bedroom no less.' She drew back and smiled suggestively at him. This time, Ron was the one blushing but he recovered quickly.

'We might need to watch out for Harry.' he said bluntly.

'What's up with Harry?' she asked with the concern clear in her voice.

'Harry had a bad night. He was tossing and turning most of the night and he kept whispering our names and Ginny's. He seemed okayish this morning but he gave me the impression that he didn't want to talk about it.'

'Ah' interrupted Hermione 'and you've just seen you sister heading up to talk to him.'

'Exactly!' he said relieved that Hermione had got the point immediately 'You know what Harry's like when he gets into one of those moods. We've got Remus and Tonks funerals today and if Ginny pushes him to talk then he's likely go off into one of his sulks...' he left it hanging in the air.

Hermone put her hand on his arm. 'I wouldn't worry Ron.' she said in a reassuring manner. 'Harry wasn't the only one to have nightmares last night.' Ron looked worriedly at her.

'Oh, not me this time' she reassured him 'although I did wake up a couple of times. It was Ginny.'

'Ginny?' Ron asked momentarily confused

'And what's more' she said, pressing on 'Ginny seemed pretty certain that they weren't her nightmares that she was having.' Ron's eyes started to bulge.

'The Bond?' he questioned once he got over his surprise.

'Probably' she replied. 'but it's something they'll have to work out for themselves. I can have a look in the library once we get back to Hogwart's and see what there is, but they are literally writing the book on this phenomenon.' Ron groaned inwardly at the prospect of another long quest through the dusty library books at Hogwarts, but then realised this was probably the only way he would get to spend some time with Hermione once she went back to school. He smiled.

'What's so funny?' asked Hermione.

'Nothing' he replied taking her hand and looking into her eyes, 'I'm just looking forwards to spending time with you next year, even if it will be while we are surrounded by library books.'

'Oh Ron.' she said with a catch in her voice.

'Harry, are you there?' Ginny knocked on Ron's door.

'Harmph on.' replied Harry, trying to pull his t-shirt sleeve over his head. A few seconds later, he located the correct hole and poked his head through before grabbing his dilapidated jeans and pulling them on. Finally dressed, he opened the door to find Ginny in her dressing gown and pyjamas.

'Oh' he said 'if I'd known this wasn't going to be formal dress...' he left the quip hanging in the air but Ginny didn't even break a smile.

'Harry, can we talk?' Asked a rather put out Ginny.

'Okay' agreed Harry, slightly worried and not sure what was going on.

Ginny closed the door behind her and turned to face Harry.

'You're having bad dreams.' she said.

'I don't want to talk about it.' he said bluntly and turned his back on her.

She came up behind him and hugged him. 'Talking can help though.' she said softly.

He pulled away from her 'You don't understand though, no-one does.' he started to study the window minutely hoping she would take the hint. Why today of all days? He had a funeral to attend and just wanted to forget last night. Today was likely to be hard on him and he needed all his strength.

Ginny's temper, never far , rose to the surface. She barely controlled it as she spoke to Harry slowly.

'The great hall at Hogwarts.' His head froze.

'Mists that cleared to reveal bodies.' He slowly started to turn around.

'My family dead. Me lying dead.' He was facing her, tears streaming down his face, pain etched into his features.

'Vold...'

'STOP!' he interrupted loudly. Ginny stiffened in shock

'Please stop.' he pleaded as he collapsed into her open arms sobbing.

'Here, blow.' said Ginny as she held a handkerchief that she had just grabbed from the top of the pile of clean laundry in her brothers room.

Harry had cried for about five minutes. Ginny just held him in her arms trying to comfort him as best she could, not really knowing what to say. He kept trying to say things, every so often his head would raise and he would look at her. Brimming with tears, his eyes would plead with her but the tears would start to flow again and his head would sink back to her shoulder as the sobs continued. Even their shared connection was being blocked off by Harry.

Harry's emotions were overpowering him again, ~Damn, I had this under control~ he thought before sinking again. He was only peripherally aware that someone was holding him but even through the pain and depression he could feel love seeping through, love for him. He'd not really been mothered like this since the fateful night all those years ago when Voldemort changed his life forever. A very young part of him, a still innocent part, reminded him how much he loved to be held like this. Slowly his emotions started to stabilize a bit but not enough to allow him to control the roller coaster his mind was travelling on right now.

Ginny's heart was breaking for Harry; her Harry, she reminded herself. She didn't really feel too guilty about setting him off. After all, if he hadn't been so damn stubborn about his dreams then she wouldn't have needed to push him so much but she wished that she could just make his pain go away. A sly smile crept across her lips as she suddenly realised that she could help him.

She waited for his head to come up again and then before he even knew what was happening she kissed him with a fervour that took his breath away. After a brief moment he responded in kind and let himself fall into the kiss.

~Harry?~

~Yes?~

~I need to breath...~

'Oh' Harry, said as they separated reluctantly and he took a deep breath of his own. He looked at Ginny, her face slightly flushed from lack of breath but that didn't stop his heart from melting.

'I'm Sorry.' he said thickly, 'I shouldn't have tried to shut you out.'

'I know' she replied with understanding 'Especially when you had inadvertently invited me in already.'

'What do you mean?' asked Harry, genuinely confused.

'The bond' she reminded him. 'The one that we appear to have acquired without going through the usual formality.' Harry blushed.

'It seems like when we sleep it opens up to more than just feelings.'

Harry took her hand and looked into her eyes 'I'm sorry' he said 'I didn't want to inflict this on you' he looked away 'I didn't want to inflict this on anyone.' he finished quietly.

Ginny's hand gently touched his chin and steered his head around until he faced her again.

She slowly blinked at him 'I won't deny that I dreamed one day we would have a bond like this but I was rather expecting it to be via the usual method.' She smiled at his slightly wide eyed look 'However that doesn't change the fact that I love you and if that means that we have to endure some bad dreams then I will do that for you.' Her head dipped slightly and then came back up again, this time with a very determined look in her eyes. 'For us.' she breathed and put her arms around his shoulders and started to kiss him again.

'HARRY, GINNY, BREAKFAST IS GETTING COLD DOWN HERE!' Mrs Weasleys voice dragged them back to real life.

They separated slowly, neither wanting to move away. Eventually, Ginny stood up and tightened the band on her dressing gown. 'I guess I had better go and get dressed then.' she said, her eyes telling a different story.

'Er yes' agreed Harry unenthusiastically, 'See you at breakfast in a few minutes then.' Ginny smiled at him and mouthed 'I Love you' to Harry, then turned and left. Harry could hear her descending the stairs.

He sat down and took a deep swallow of air, then expelled a long breath. A smile crept onto his face, Harry couldn't help it. Like a nervous tick, the corners of his mouth rose up and left him with an almost silly grin on his face ~Down Potter~ he thought and managed to get up, pull his shoes and socks on then headed down for breakfast.

The Goblin blinked slowly. Moving carefully around the bushes, he re-joined the group of six others in the small hollow beneath the spread of low branches of the tree that they were using as a hiding place.

'It's finally deserted' he said with relief. The Goblins had been waiting with growing impatience for the grave diggers to finish preparing the twin 6ft shafts, for the coming funerals for the last hour.

The others looked at him impassively but he could see the clear sign of annoyance in their eyes. The plan had called for them to be in position half an hour ago, well in advance of the prying ministry officials who were no doubt preparing to come crawling over the graveyard in search of anyone who was not specifically invited to the funeral. Kaltok was more than aware that he and his six compatriots were very much near the top of the 'not specifically invited' list but this was far more important than a petty wizard funeral.

For the first time in centuries a wizard was willing to bring an offer to the table to that would give them most of the freedoms and the ownership rules that they craved. To be able to take back goblin made items when the wizard died. An allowance for some of them to bear wands. Such things had been spoken of longingly in whispered conversations at secret meetings through the years as Gringotts and the ministry quietly sold the Goblins way of life away for a few coins.

Then Voldemort fell and with him, Kaltok's hope that Goblins would ever be free.

To make matters worse, the three people responsible had also broken into the Goblin bank and even now had the impunity to walk around as if they had done nothing wrong with the bank, if rumour were to be believed, planning to cut some form of deal with them.

He faced the group 'You know why we are here!' he hissed 'For too long the ministry has presumed that the bank speaks for all goblins and the bank for its part, has done little to correct this.' He glanced around and could see the glee in their eyes as they too contemplated the actions planned for later. 'Today, we make the bank see reason and give them no choice but to support us. Bogrod himself has assurance that the dark council will extend us the same offer as Voldemort himself had if we deliver Harry Potter' at this he spat viciously at the floor. 'Mostly intact to them.' He too joined in the evil grin that the group now wore in anticipation of the violence they had planned and the latitude that "mostly intact" gave them.

Hermione waited for the bedroom door to close as they returned to Ginny's room after breakfast, before confronting Ginny. 'What did you say to him?' she asked in curiosity. 'I've not seen Harry this happy since before the quest.'.

Ginny looked at Hermione and realised that she wasn't going to be able to put off her best friend on this issue ~oh well, I suppose she's just concerned~ 'Well at first he didn't want to talk to me but I started reciting the dream to him and he kind of broke down.'

Hermione winced. 'I was afraid that would happen, that's why Ron and I usually left Harry alone when he went into one of those moods. How did you get him out so quick? I mean you couldn't tell he had been crying at breakfast.'

This time Ginny grinned. 'I have some extra resources that you and Ron don't.' she said cryptically teasing her friend.

'Ginny!' complained Hermione...

Ginny laughed and then her face went quite serious. 'I held him for a few minutes as he cried. He seemed to be trying to say something but he couldn't get the words out through the tears. In the end I waited for his head to come up again and then I kissed him.' Ginny's eyes drooped shut and her face positively glowed at this last comment as she remembered the kiss.

Hermione sat and looked at her friend as she sat in her reverie ~Wow~ she thought, ~that must have been some kiss~.

She gave Ginny a few more seconds and then leaned forward to touch her hand 'Earth to Ginny.'.

Ginny's eyes snapped open. 'Eh?, oh sorry Hermione. Must have got a bit distracted.' she paused, 'Where was I again?'

This time Hermione smiled, 'The kiss,' she said grinning further 'which judging from your reaction must have been pretty special.'

Ginny blushed 'I can't even begin to describe it but it did the job and Harry came around in short order.' She mused briefly 'In fact it worked so well that I had to ask him to stop so I could breath.'

Hermione laughed out loud but managed to force out 'You're supposed to breathe through your nose!'

Ginnys eyebrows shot up 'Speaks the voice of experience?' she quipped.

Hermione sobered up instantly, blushing in turn 'I shouldn't have said that.' she whispered looking mortified.

'Why not?' asked Ginny 'It's not as if you need to keep it hidden now.'

Hermione looked relieved 'Yes, you're right. I forgot that you're not Harry and that you're together now.' embarrassed she said 'Force of habit I guess.' She looked up at Ginny, face still red form the blush earlier. 'Go on.'

Well after that we got our breath back and kissed again.' she screwed her face up 'No correction, we started to kiss again but my mother called us down for breakfast.' Ginny's eyes glazed over again 'I managed to put Harry's hand down and came back here to get dressed. I did tell him I love him before I finally started down the stairs though, he seemed to like it.' Ginny was smiling again.

'Remember' hissed Kaltok bringing the group back from it's collective revue, 'We must make him pay for what he did even if our so called leaders do not have the backbone to do what they should. But...' He held on crooked finger up 'Potter must be taken alive and without too many significant injuries.'

One of the group raised its hand, Kaltok looked at him, it was the youngster Golt. 'Yes Golt' Said Kaltok wearily. If truth be known, he should not have been here but Golt had always been enthusiastic and he had managed to help break the traitor Griphook so Kartok had been ordered to include him on this mission. Regardless of what he had done however Kaltok didn't care for him personally but recognised a sticking point when he saw one.

'What of the other two thieves? What if they are here? And Potter's mate? What if this Ginny Wealsey is also in the group?' There was a hunger in his voice that Kaltok hadn't noticed before, a hunger that worried him and may come to be a problem with the mission brief being to take Potter alive. Today however, such things could be put to another use.

'Golt, if they are with Potter then your primary task is to make sure that they don't leave in one piece.' Golt leered with vicious intent. Kaltoc looked at the group, 'I need one more of you to back Golt up.'

The only female in the group stepped forwards 'I'll do it' she said shooting what she thought was a discrete look of adoration at Golt.

~No surprise there then~ as Kaltok inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. The two most unstable goblins he had known for a fair while would not be attacking the main target. 'Very well Bartang, you and Golt will take care of the other two thieves, Miss Wesley and her brother Bill, IN THAT ORDER' he forced out as loudly as he dare to emphasise to the two youngsters what he wanted. They stepped back in surprise. 'I know you want revenge, but today that is secondary to the main mission. I want you to get out when we all bug out. You do not' he poked Golt in the chest 'want to spend any time at the ministries "pleasure" because if you do, I can assure you it will be...unpleasant.' He savoured the last word and took a deep breath and continued 'And if by chance you get away from the ministry, you will have to answer to me. If that happens, the ministry' he spat again 'will seem like a romantic cave meal for two compared to what I will do to you. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?' He held their gaze for a moment with the threat hanging between them before turning back to the rest of the group and completely missing the hardening in Golt's eyes. ~You'll get yours Kaltok~ Golt thought ~I should be leading this attack~ Bartang's hand crept into his briefly as she re-assured him that she understood. He knew he could trust her when the time came.

Kaltok put his hand on the shoulder of one of the goblins 'For the rest of us, our job is to get Gruntag to Potter with that port key and once that's done we scatter. With any luck they'll be too surprised to get any of us before we escape.' He turned to Gruntag 'Wait for us to get into position and start the attack. Take the first opportunity that presents itself to get to him.' Gruntag nodded.

He looked around his now reduced attack force. He knew and trusted each of this group, the five of them had been through much together over the last year and now he had the enthusiastic youngsters diverted, he had high hopes of a successful attack.

He started to hand out small potion phials to the group 'This is a little edge provided by our wizard friends. It's apparently called "Mortem Obturamentum" '.

He handed a couple of the phials to Golt and Bartang holding the last one back for himself. 'Drink it as the coffins are lowered, it will last an hour during which no matter how grave the wounds you receive, you should remain conscious and fully mobile. I expect you to use that hour to get clear without being captured and make your way to the rendezvous point. We have some healers waiting so make sure we have successful news to prompt them to do their best.'

He rounded on the youngsters again.'Wait for my signal before starting the attack. If we go in piecemeal its more likely that the attack will fail.' Golt and Bartang nodded unconvincingly slowly and Kaltok's glared at them fiercely before Golt finally backed down. 'I want you two on opposite sides of the group to improve your chances and add to the confusion he said. Apparently begrudgingly, Bartang moved slowly across the group to join the opposite side of the circle. Her eyes met Golt's and something missed by Kaltok passed between them as she gave Golt a wry smile.

Kaltok went around the circle casting disillusionment charms on each of the goblins in turn as he did so they could hear the goblins moving away to take up the agreed positions around the graves.

The leader was the last to leave Gruntag. 'If it looks like you're not going to get a clear shot at Potter after a minute or so then fire the dark mark into the air and use the port key yourself. The rest of us will run at that point.' 'Do you really think those two enthusiasts will heed your advice?' He asked. Kaltok looked thoughtful, 'Probably not' he said, 'I've seen the blood-lust before and once they've started I don't know how we can rein them in. Personally I'm hoping they can get themselves killed.' Gruntag nodded knowingly 'I was listening when you were ordered to bring them along.' Kaltok raised his eyebrows. 'I presume that should some accident befall them today, you wouldn't be too upset?'

Kaltok smiled 'That would be ... unfortunate...' He said, savouring the word. They didn't need to say more about the matter. He disillusioned himself and dropped the wand into Gruntag's open hand.

Gruntag nodded and accepted the wand as he heard Kaltok move away as well.

'What did she say to you?' asked Ron.

Harry looked up obviously thinking back to earlier that morning 'actually she didn't say all that much, I do remember the kiss th...'

'Urrghhh!' Ron exclaimed interrupting the conversation. 'Too much information Harry.'

Harry, amused at Ron's response replied 'Well you did ask. Besides, I thought you were fine with Ginny and me?'

'I'm fine with the concept of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley being a couple.' He said 'It's my best friend snogging my sister that I have trouble with.'

'It's no worse than you and Hermione.' Said Harry smiling.

In a un-Ron-like moment he said 'I guess not, Hermione has been like a sister to you.'

'Thanks Ron.'. Harry looked at the piles of clothes that they had bought back from the ministry the day before. I guess we'd better get ready though before you mum starts chasing us.

'Too true' said Ron 'It's going to be like getting ready to leave for Hogwarts every day this week, trust me we want to stay ahead of this.'

'Well Bogrod, do you have a plan?' The figure was seated in his usual wing-back chair with a number of candles floating in the air around it, so that once more the shadows hid his face. The voice was again calm and measured.

The Goblin licked his lips nervously 'We have managed to identify where the funeral is due to take place today. We have a secreted some of our number nearby and will make a further attempt to capture him today. We suspect that the ministry will not be expecting any attack to come from within their safety cordon.'

'I see, and how exactly do you intend to get him out of the cordon?' the owner of the voice had been slightly curious now his voice had a sharpness to it that the Goblin missed.

'Using one of the port keys that you were kind enough to furnish us with.' replied Bogrod promptly.

'Did we say that you could just take them?' the voice snapped back. 'Do you have any idea just how much danger you have put me and my associates in?'

'Danger?' replied Bogrod, clearly confused now. 'I understood that you wished Harry Potter apprehended. You offered us support to that end and now you tell us not to use it.' The goblin sneered 'Can it be that our great wizard friends have got cold feet?'.

A wand appeared from the shadows as Bogrod collapsed in pain from the Cruciatus curse that the voice in the chair cast. After a minute the spell was lifted and the goblin was left gasping for breath, sprawled on the floor. A roll of paper landed next to his head.

'Have you seen this morning's Daily Prophet?'

'No, why would anything in that wizard rag be of interest to a Goblin?' Bogrod spat out in anger more over the use of the spell than the questioning and quietly vowing to take revenge when the opportunity presented itself.

'Had you read it.' each word was being forced out from between clenched teeth. 'you would see that Harry Potter has signed on as an Auror with the ministry. This means that any attack on him will be met with the full force of the ministry. They will probe and investigate anyone they capture and although I hear that Shacklebolt is reluctant to use Veritaserum he does have other methods at his disposal and believe me they will be unpleasant. I hope you at least furnished the party with the phials of Mortem Obturamentum we concocted.'

The goblin nodded but his shoulders sagged as the voice continued in a slightly calmer tone 'Furthermore, my sources tell me that the witch we had in place in the department of magical transportation has been arrested.'

'What happened?' the Goblin asked in dread.

'She took it into her head to use her department power to attack Potter and his Pals. Unfortunately she did this just after they had signed up as Aurors and they just arrested her. Fortunately she didn't know who we were exactly but she was sympathetic to our cause of taking revenge on Potter and his cronies. She was more than willing to get the department to turn a blind eye when those port keys were activated. Without her in place those port keys can be tracked if used and that could lead them back to my associates and myself.'

Bogrod swallowed nervously.

'I trust that you can ensure that the port key is not activated?' the wizard leaned forward slightly and a nose was visible peeking out of the shadows

'Yes, yes, of course.' replied Bogrod, rather too quickly.

As the Goblin turned to leave the room the voice said 'Next time, you should consult with my associates and I before you put a plan in to action. We might be able to save you some trouble and after all, we are partners are we not?'

'Yes we are sir.' and he left the room hurriedly

The other wizard walked in.

'So, it's coming to a head then?' he asked.

'Yes, I know they were impatient to act and this is a good a time as any..'

There was an uncomfortable silence between them 'You never know' the other wizard mused 'they might get lucky.'

The wizard in the chair snorted with . 'Not a chance. Potter for all his faults is a top grade duellist as are many of his friends. Unless they manage to take them all down in the first charge then they will fail.'

'But why let them attack at all right now? Surely it would be better to make them wait until they have a chance of success.'

The wand extended again and the other wizard fell to the floor in pain. 'Fool' hissed the chair 'I still need the ministry's eyes elsewhere until we are ready to proceed with Fenik' he turned to look at the wizard sprawled on the floor 'Unless you want to volunteer to attract their attention...' He left the offer hanging the air.

The other wizard pulled himself to his knees and after a couple of deep breaths said 'No...of course not.'

'Good' came the reply, 'the poison they think will help them will kick in after an hour so the group won't have time to betray us. Now go and make sure that we have those bookings for travel to Australia in place. I'm sure that Bogrod will be eager to continue this little war even after today's set back.'

'Yes Sir' said the wizard as he left the room.

The wizard in the chair sat back and returned to the contemplation of an ancient scroll.


	7. Chapter 7

They arrived at the Lupin's funeral in good time, which was a bit of a novelty for Molly. Even managing to put on the complicated Auror dress robes to her satisfaction didn't seem to take Harry and Ron all that long. Although the secret help of their respective girlfriend's had made a big difference.

Remus and Tonk's funeral was to be held at the Lupin's local church, an old 10th century medieval building. The information plaque proclaimed it to have been part of a Monastery that had supported Henry VIII in his split from Rome and had thus avoided the worst damage of the Reformation. The sun was out and the weather was expected to be fairly nice all week, something Harry had been thankful for as he was going to be spending most of it standing outside. It felt like the world itself was showing it's thanks to those who fell and those who survived the last few days.

As they were early, Harry and Ginny took the chance to meander around the churchyard hand in hand. Harry was using the time to mentally prepare himself for the next couple of hours remembering his friends whom he had loved and for who's deaths he still felt a certain amount of guilt. Ginny's job was to more or less guide him around the maze of gravestones and keep an eye on him to make sure that he didn't have another of what she was coming to think of as his 'episodes'.

They eventually came to a stop in front of the freshly dug graves. Harry's attention returned to the graveyard. ~Nice of you to return~ thought Ginny, her tone a little snippy.

'Sorry Darling, I'm just trying to get my head into a state where I can get through the next two hours without feeling really guilty again.' He looked up at her.

'Good' she replied in a conciliatory tone .'We don't have the time it would take for me to pull you out of it right now and it would be a little difficult to explain to the other guests.'

Ginny smiled mischievously.

'Behave' said Harry returning her smile as he too remembered their closeness the previous night.

They turned back to the graves and Harry's gaze travelled to the reasonably fresh grave beside the ominous holes. 'I see Ted is here already.' As he gestured towards the fresh grave.

Ginny looked in surprise at Harry 'How did you know?' She asked, slightly confused.

'Oh, Ron managed to tune into Potterwatch a few times. We heard about Ted Tonks and Dirk Cresswell the first time he managed to tune us in.' He looked a bit grave and then smiled 'I remember Fred complaining about being given the code name rodent, he wanted to be rapier I think' Harry paused briefly 'and his jokes about Voldemort. It was the first time we'd had anything to laugh about in weeks.'

Ginny held her breath and tried to block the screaming that Fred's name had set off in her mind from Harry. Either she managed it or Harry wasn't paying attention because his next comment was 'Let's join the others in the church.'

Ginny breathed a little easier, ~Maybe that walk helped~ she pondered as they turned the corner of the path and started up towards the church. ~It did~ he thought back

'Where have you been?' demanded Ron as they reached the door.

'None of you business … Mum.' Ginny snapped back and without giving him time to retort. 'And you'll notice that Harry's uniform doesn't look at all mussed.' she added smiling knowingly at him.

Ron blushed as he straightened his dress uniform and then jumped as his girlfriend and Kingsley came up behind him.

'Harry' Said Kingsley inclining his head towards to the young man. 'I wish we could be meeting on a more happy occasion.'

'Ron really!' Exclaimed Hermione stepping past the minister 'How do you manage to get so untidy?' She reached over and started to properly correct the hang of Ron's dress robes as he continued to blush. His eyes throwing a warning to Harry and Ginny who were trying, without much success, to hide smirks. Kingsley standing behind Ron didn't even try.

'There you are' Said Hermione, apparently satisfied 'Shall we go in, I want to keep an eye on that reporter.'

Harry's head shot up and his eyes went flinty and he glared at the minister 'Great!' he forced out between clenched teeth 'Just what I need.' Kingsley took a step back knowing that there was no love lost between Harry and the press and that Scrimgeour's attempt to use him as a poster boy the previous years was one of the main things that alienated him from the ministry.

Kingsley moved quickly 'Harry, If you'll let me explain first I hope you'll see that this was the best I could do for you given the circumstances.' Kingsley's eyes were full of concern, his demeanour one of a supplicant.

Harry's fists clenched and unclenched until a small warm hand intertwined it's fingers with his ~Harry, I suggest we hear him out~ He blinked as if coming round and took a deep breath. Ginny breathed a silent sigh of relief as she felt Harry's anger recede slightly. 'Okay Minister.' The use of his formal title was not lost on Kingsley 'We will listen to what you have to say' Harry felt a burst of warmth from his girlfriend who for her part was thrilled that Harry was clearly thinking of them rather than just himself. 'But if the words "poster boy" pass your lips' the fingers on his free hand started to grip his wand 'I promise it will not go well for you.'

Kingsley flashed a quick smile and began.

'Harry, as soon as the knowledge that you had defeated Voldemort became public, the ministry has been under siege from the press wanting interviews. I've had a couple of the ministry staff working full time just to keep on top of the fan mail, interview requests, howlers and whatever else the wizarding population at large sees fit to try and send to the four of you and others involved in the war.' He paused to take stock and Harry seemed to be calming down so he ploughed on 'I was hoping that the small press release about you deciding to join the Auror Department would calm them down but if anything it intensified the situation. I even had to have Rita Skeeta forcibly removed from my office at one point because she was convinced that I was hiding you in there somewhere.' Harry and Ginny both smiled.

'In an attempt to put a stop to the demands I offered the Daily Prophet the chance to attend each of the funerals this coming week but they are under strict orders to leave you in peace and ask no direct questions unless you two, Ron or Hermione initiate the interview and to stop any interview as soon as you indicate that it is at an end.' Kingsley looked up hopefully.

'Go on' said Harry, his tone still guarded.

'The new policy of openness that I have introduced at the ministry forbids me from forcing them to pass me or yourselves the story in advance of publication but I made it clear that they should regard this as a period of probation and, if they abuse this, there will be consequences. Miss Skeeter is crying censorship of the press but the editor can see the way things are going to be and has shortened her leash. I believe she is spending this week in her garden for reasons of health.' Kingsley was again grinning at Harry and Ginny again who looked much more relaxed.

'I see' said Harry after a pause 'and would one of those reasons be the danger of her being in proximity of a certain select group of witches and wizards who, for a variety of good reasons, are likely to hex her in to the middle of next week on sight?' but before Kingsley could answer Ginny snorted out 'Next week?...More like next year'

Kingsley kept a straight face although his eyes displayed a certain mischief . 'Indeed that point may have come up during the discussion. The Editor, Barnabas Cuffe, and myself felt that an extended period of leave might be erm, beneficial all round.' Kingsley's face took on a downward cast 'Unfortunately, she is more than happy to have time to devote to writing a biography of you Harry.' Harry tensed again. 'There isn't much I can do to stop her either I'm afraid and as a ministry employee I have to advise you that the official line is a swift "No comment". If she persists then you may use your discretion.' He turned to look at Ginny who had a calculating look in her eye.'I know that you are not officially a ministry employee Miss Weasley but discretion does not include bat bogey hex's.' Ginny pouted 'Besides she would take great delight in attempting to ruin your chances of joining the Harpies if you turn professional.'

He looked at them both seriously. 'I'm sorry it's come to this so quickly Harry, I had hoped that we could give you and the others a week or two before we had to deal with the press but as I mentioned earlier it has been relentless. I'll send you the abridged version of events that we intend to release to the Prophet tonight by owl. If you could review it with whomever you see fit and let me have your revised version back in in a couple of days then I can release it to the Prophet and hopefully things will calm, down on that front. I know that you still have funerals for the next couple of days but this was the best deal I could negotiate with Barnabas.'

'Thank you.' Harry managed to sound relieved even though his stomach was knotting up. 'I can see that you've done the best you can, but what if you don't like our changes?' He challenged unable to keep the edge out of his voice.

Kingsley looked a bit worried again but quickly responded 'Provided there is nothing untrue then the plan is simply to let your revised version be sent to the Prophet unedited.' Harry appeared to relax again and Kingsley ploughed on. 'I do however, suggest that you and Ginny append a small statement about advising that you are together, your co-operation in this matter would be much appreciated by the witches in the mail department to say the least. Ron and Hermione have already agreed that they will add a small announcement. I shall just say Romelda Vane and leave it at that.'

Harry looked stunned, 'How did you know about Romelda?' he asked as Ginny's eyes went flinty at the name and he felt her temper building

~Ginny, just ignore her~

~Harry! If she comes within 5 miles of you...~

~I'll hex her myself~ he promised ~but can we talk about this later?~

~Okay~ she thought and the temper started to recede.

'Harry' said Kingsley with a grin, not having noticed the couples attention had been elsewhere 'Not withstanding the several daily missives that we have received for you from her ever since the battle, Mineva clued me in over the incident with the chocolates while I was still at Hogwarts. The letters had started to arrive already and I didn't know what to make of them.'

'You can burn them for all I care.' but it wasn't Harry who had spoken.

'I'll I do that for you however I still suggest that you and Ginny draft a small statement advising that you are officially an item to reduce the number of speculative letters we are getting.' said Kingsley, glossing over the contents to avoid antagonising Ginny further.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other 'Officially an item' Ginny grinned 'I like it.'

Kaltok slowly let a breath out. They had been close for a while, and perhaps he should have signalled the attack early. Mentally chiding himself, he reminded himself that that once a plan was made, it was not wise to deviate from it. Besides, he could still see the Auror's moving around the graveyards and making sure the late arrivals were cleared to be there. He had no guarantee that the rest of the group had been watching at precisely that point and the capture of even one of the group could be disastrous. Better to wait until the planned attack time when the Auror's would likely be less alert and the rest of the Goblins ready.

The interior of the church was cool even with the windows and doors open; the chill of the stones held the warmth of the day outside at bay. All of the surviving order members were here, in addition to the family members and friends, he could even see Hagrid looking a little worse for wear at the back of the church where he gave them a solemn nod. They could see his large hankie was already out and showing signs of use. Oddly of all the Weasleys, George was missing and Harry had been hoping he would be here so they could catch up.

They took Orders of Service and were ushered towards the front row of the packed church. Heads turned and eyes followed them, as they walked self-consciously down the aisle to join Ron and Hermione with Andromeda holding a sleeping Teddy in her arms at the front. The two coffins were stood on pedestals next to each other in front of the alter. They paused briefly and then took their seats between Ron and Andromeda.

Harry looked resolutely forwards until a tiny hand tugged at his robe. He turned to see a beaming Teddy determinedly grasping at him. He smiled despite himself. And then met Andromeda's gaze and froze.

He hardly noticed the familiar warm hand creep into his. He blinked ~Sorry Gin~ Turning his attention outwards he looked at Andromeda Tonks, 'Mrs Tonks, I never did get to thank you properly for patching me up after I had that run in with Voldemort and his Death Eaters a year ago.' and he held out his other hand, the one that Ginny hadn't firmly claimed.

This proved to be a bit of a mistake on Harry's part as a grateful Teddy immediately put his mouth over it gave Harry a vicious suck. Andromeda smiled weakly at him. 'Harry' She said kindly 'It is us who should be thanking you after what you have done for our kind.' she looked down at her Grandson who was now sucking away at Harry's finger with every sign of contentment 'and Teddy certainly approves of you.'

Despite the solemnity of the occasion they shared a little laugh.

'Now on the count of three Harry.' He look a little confused until he saw the pacifier in her other hand and he nodded in understanding.

'One...Two..Three!'

Harry gently withdrew his finger from his Godsons mouth. Just as Teddy's eyes opened and he seemed to be building up to a good screaming fit Andromeda poked the pacifier into his mouth and he started to suck away, content once more.

'Remus and Tonks often spoke of you during the war.' Andromeda said 'Remus in particular had nothing but praise for you saying you exemplified the best of your father and his only regret was that he didn't get to spend more time with you.' Harry was speechless as Andromeda carried on.

'I won't say that I don't wish that my daughter and husband were still alive; any-more than I won't wish every day that my Ted had survived but I have responsibilities' She raised Teddy slightly and wrinkled her nose. Harry also screwed up his face, his eyes almost watering.

'Speaking of responsibilities...' she said. Ginny leaned over with her spare hand over her nose 'Mrs Tonks, would you like Harry and me to take care of him?' ~Ginny~ Harry complained. 'No, I'll be fine this time thanks dear but I will hold you to that offer another time.' as she passed Teddy to Harry so she could get up.

Harry groaned inwardly, trying his hardest not to breath in ~What the great hero of the wizarding world afraid of a little baby poo?~ Ginny taunted as Harry's eyes really did start to water behind his glasses'

Andromeda took Teddy back and headed to the side of the church where the hall was located. She looked back at the couple 'Oh and its Dromeda please.'

Outside Golt silently cursed Koltok. If he hadn't been so locked into the plan they could have taken both Harry and Ginny with little effort, now they had to wait another hour or so. He settled down, moving slightly so that the knotty root under him would not dig in so much. He froze as one of the Auror's looked over his position and breathed a little easier as the wizard looked away. ~Too close~ he thought and went back to his private scheming.

Once Andromeda returned with a now clean Teddy, the funeral proceeded peacefully. Harry delivered a tearful eulogy drawing on his shared circumstances with Teddy and himself but ending with a promise to make sure that Teddy would live to appreciate the world that both their parents had paid so high a price to bring about. Ginny spent the speech sending Harry support through their bond and occasional prompts having spent the last evening helping him to write it.

Kingsley spoke of the couple's tireless work for the order through the last year. How Tonks could be relied upon to always to put a smile on your face no matter how dark things seemed at the time and Remus's eternal optimism both of them had done much to keep the increasingly under pressure order functioning.

Finally Andromeda and Teddy took the floor and praised the heroes for finally defeating Voldermort and remembering her husband, daughter and son-in-law. She ended with a comment that although Teddy's parents were no longer here, he would have a surrogate family with his Godfather and Godmother which caused Ginny and Harry to blush as they realised that for the first time someone had publicly acknowledged their relationship.

In the graveyard, some of the bushes moved in the wind despite the apparent calmness of the weather. The Aurors looked on noticing nothing out of place.

The formal ceremony finished and the coffins were levitated outside. To hide this from the muggles six wizards stood by the sides of the coffins Harry and Ginny were at the front of Remus's with Kingsley and Arthur leading Tonks. They proceeded to the freshly dug graves. Ministry wizards confounded the majority of the crowd as the coffins were levitated down and the minister managed the rest of the service only with close reference to the book in his hands.

Around the graveside group, about 15 feet out in various directions seven scaly hands uncorked seven phials and each of the goblins swallowed the potion. They were committed now.

From the undergrowth around them eight pairs of eyes now watched the group break up.

As the crowd drifted away from the graveside Harry, Ginny, the Weasley's, Andromeda, Teddy and Kingsley came together as a group in front of the three graves in quiet contemplation.

Andromeda turned to Harry, she had cried herself during the service and was looking a bit brighter. 'Thanks for coming Harry and speaking for them during the service.' Harry smiled weakly at her but replied strongly 'I owed it to him. He was the last of my fathers friends from school and a great friend to me.' He turned back to the grave 'I'll miss him.'

Ginny held his arm fiercely ~Not your fault~ she reminded him. He looked up at the group. With the funeral over, many had drifted away to the church and back towards the house for the funeral tea. The rest of Weasley's with their partners with Percy and Charlie on their own and Kingsley in the middle of them remained with Andromeda and Teddy. George had not made an appearance at the funeral.

Andromeda started 'I guess we had better get back to the house before Teddy gets too restless.'

Bogrod sighed inwardly. Gruntag wasn't a bad goblin; a little greedy perhaps but then when weren't they all? However, regardless of his personal feelings the master plan and his personal safety couldn't be put at risk and sometimes that meant that a pawn had to be sacrificed.

Gruntag stiffened silently as the blade emerged from his chest the dark blood running down the blade. Bogrod's hand covered his mouth as the life drained from his surprised face and his legs collapsed under him.

This done, the old goblin retrieved the wand and port key, pausing for a second to deactivate it. Finally, he pushed the body into a crevice next to the tree root. His small body masking the massive strength contained within, easily pushed the corpse down until no trace except a small pool of blood remained.

He kicked some dirt over it and quietly left the way he had come. The rest of the team would also have to be sacrificed. He bitterly thought of the taunt from the wizard as he left earlier and silently vowed that he would one day take the price of these seven goblins out of the wizards flesh.

On the church ward side of the group, Kaltok drew back his arm. A small, well weighted knife was clutched in his hand by the blade. He slowly breathed out, held his breath and sighted along his arm preparing to throw...

Ginny glanced towards a rustle in the shrubbery and saw a glint of metal ~Harry~ she thought in worry.

Harry's view was briefly replaced with the same vision of the the glint of metal

'DOWN!' yelled Harry as he dropped to the floor. ~Shield!~ he thought as he dropped.

Most of the group reacted to Harry's command without thinking. Only Percy, Andromeda and Ginny remained standing. The first two in surprise but Ginny already had an intense look of concentration on her brow. The dagger flew between them, directly at the spot where Harry had stood only seconds before. It bounced off the shield into the graveyard as other missiles were thrown and deflected off the now fully deployed shield. Which more than adequately covered the whole group.

Kaltok looked around the graveyard, he had not expected the first assault to be so ineffective and he feverishly hoped that Gruntag was already preparing to cast the dark mark so that the rest of the team could retreat.

Within seconds Ron, Hermione, Harry and Kingsley had rolled back to their feet. Eyes alert and with wands out covering a quarter of the area with quick sweeps awaiting the next attack, they were poised to respond as soon as the assailants revealed their positions. They didn't have to wait long.

Golt Looked on incredulously. He might not have any respect for the old Goblin but Kaltoc's attack should have succeeded in at least injuring one of them before they could get a shield up. He mentally shrugged and waited for the scream from Bartang as she provided the distraction he required.

Grabgast moved slightly so he could get a clear shot but as he loosed the throwing axe a stunner shot back in reply. In keeping the axe on target he gave himself no time to dodge it. Thinking that he would be immune or at the very least, only winded he eyes registered the shock as he felt his feet lift off the ground and his body flying through the air before he passed out.

The axe, while on target clanged off Ginny's shield and spun to the side missing one of the other Goblins only because he jumped out of the way but unfortunately revealing his position.

Harry turned to grin at Kingsley as it was Harry's stunner that had struck true on the axe thrower. Kingsley winked back as he threw a body bind at the goblin that had popped up from where the axe had rebounded into the bushes. A solid thud indicated it had found a trunk in the low bush.

A patronus in the form of a weasel shot out from the group still on the floor. Kingsley drew a brief breath of relief knowing that others would soon be joining the fight.

In front of Ron, another goblin charged forward. This one appeared to be wearing some form of woven metal tunic which, under the scraps of material pinned to it, had a definite feminine cut. She uttered a number of high pitched screams as several small black items the size of snitches (if snitches were ever painted midnight black) were pitched towards the group by the erratically bouncing Goblin.

Each stuck where it landed and as she leapt in the air she flung the last one at the ground below her feet.

Ron took aim and fired a stunner at the Goblin just before all the black objects exploded simultaneously with a loud bang and a copious cloud of acrid smoke.

Ginny's shield faltered slightly as the concussion from the explosion rocked her.. As she felt the shield falling away she could also feel it raising again stronger than before. ~Harry~ she thought.

Golt charged. Bartang's exploding devices had done the best he could have hoped to disrupt the defences of the group now he wanted only vengeance. The female thief was the closest, not that it particularly mattered to Golt who he managed to attack by this time.

Hermione coughed, trying to clear her throat after breathing in some of the smoke from the explosions. She didn't see Golt run towards her from the nearest bush and jump up behind her.

Golt dragged her down to the floor. Hermione screamed as the goblin reached into his boot and withdrew a dagger It was another of the items that he and Bartang had neglected to mention to Kaltok when they joined the mission.

Ron heard Hermione's scream from the other side of the clearing. ~NO!~ he thought determinedly ~Not again~ and as he turned to see where her assailant was, he drew his will.

On the floor now with the goblin on top of her holding her down, Hermione looked up to see the goblin's hand with the dagger raising up as his other hand pulled down on her hair forcing her head back.

-Blink-

Hermione looked on in horror as, in slow motion, the dagger paused at the high point of the swing and began its descent towards her chest.

-Blink-

Her wand lay a foot to the side, dislodged from her hand as she was pulled to the floor. No way to reach it in time.

-Blink-

The blade was glistening in the afternoon sun as it plunged down. An unhealthy looking green sheen indicated to her that it was probably cursed.

-Blink-

The blade was half way towards her chest now. She tried to move but the fall had taken her breath away.

-Blink-

Still trying break free but knowing she could do nothing more, Hermione closed her eyes and thought of Ron.

-Blink-

To be continued...


	8. Chapter 8

Ron dived towards where the Goblin and Hermione were tussling on the ground, nearly twenty feet away across the Graveyard. He concentrated,twisted and disapparated in mid flight with a pop.

Another pop brought him back right next to where the Goblin and Hermione were tussling. His momentum from the previous dive carried him onwards into the Goblin. His hand fastened around the plunging wrist of the Goblin, twisting the blade almost horizontal. As his weight and speed carried him over the top of Hermione and the Goblin, he wrapped his other arm around the Goblin as he passed over the top.

Ron hit the ground and rolled with the Goblin still held in his arms. Golt was trying desperately to land the dagger on Ron in the confusion caused by the jumble of bodies rolling across the ground.

They came to a rest five feet away from Hermione; Golt on the floor and Ron uncomfortably on top. The Goblin had ceased his struggles and a dull ache permeated Ron's chest as he momentarily saw stars and passed out.

Bartang shrieked in anger as she saw Golt attacked by one of the thieves and charged at the rest of the group. She fully extended her claws as she approached arms wide, swiping at the nearest wizards in the group.

She rebounded off the shield before George and Percy hit her from both sides with stunners.

The tunic deflected both stunners and she prepared for another charge but before she could do anything, Aurors and hit squad wizards started to apparate in from the ministry. With one last scream of defiance, she ineffectually hurled herself against the shield again, this time deliberately towards Bill.

From all sides, stunners and binding spells flew in. A few of the hasty spells ricocheted off the shield and the tunic deflected some more. However, more than enough hit home to overwhelm the Tunics powers and the still shrieking goblin dropped to the ground bound in thick ropes.

Hermione opened her eyes as the pressure of the goblin on her had lifted. She looked across the graveyard in time to see Ron slump off the top of the goblin. As she rose to go to him pausing only to grab her wand and with concern filling her face, the goblin started to smoke. The dagger was clearly visible buried to the hilt in the goblin.

~My God~ she thought. ~That could have been me~

The colour drained from her face as her legs gave way and she curled up on the ground, sobbing gently.

Kaltok looked on and saw the last of his attack party collapse under the weight of spells cast at him. He cursed the fool Golt for bringing that dagger along without telling him but didn't mourn his fate. He did briefly regret that he wouldn't have an opportunity to punish this idiot but if that was the Lactaverunt dagger then Golt's last few moments would have been exquisitely painful as his life was slowly ripped from every part of his body.

Now seriously outnumbered though, Kaltok's only thought was of fleeing and saving his own skin. As he turned to go, he heard a pop to his right and saw an Auror who had just apparated into the fight. His automatic reactions betrayed him as he stood and turned to attack this new target but as he drew his arm back the world went black. He didn't feel his body hit the ground nor feel his life slip away as the combined effect of five stunner's swiftly overwhelmed his small body before it gave up and the darkness took him for its own.

Bogrod surveyed the carnage; As he watched Kaltok fall he knew that all seven Goblins were down, most of them dead. He grudgingly admitted that the deaths were all unintentional on the on the wizards part but the rest of the group didn't need to know that.

None of the wizards was significantly injured although, he thought with glee, the Weasley boy had slumped to the floor and the female thief had a fairly big shock and she'll be having a bad time for the next few weeks. ~Maybe a replica dagger via owl?~ as he grinned briefly at the thought of this small revenge.

His face dropped again just as quickly as he realised what the Dark Council had just cost him and he shook his head in frustration while quietly leaving the graveyard. Trusting the disillusionment charm and his distance from the actual fight to allow him to escape without discovery. In his mind he was already composing a story to tell the group as to why the attack failed and waiting in anticipation of the excuses that would be provided by the Dark Council as to why the famed Mortem Obturamentum potion they had provided appeared to have failed to allow a single Goblin to escape.

In fact the story would be all the better if he had all the answers to work with to start with so rather than head back to the goblins, he began the trip towards the usual meeting location and sent the signal to his wizard contact that they needed to meet.

Ron groaned and lifted his head, he could see Hermione curled in the foetal position a few feet away. He tried to raise himself to go to her and was felled as a sharp pain shot up from his chest again. As he rolled on to his back, trying to keep his breathing shallow, his eyes screwed up in pain that kept hitting him every time he took a breath. ~please be okay Mione~ he thought as he struggled to remain conscious.

The Clouds finally parted and the afternoon sun broke through and threw illumination onto a scene of devastation.

At the centre, Ginny was stood upright, still concentrating on holding up the shield which was still shimmering around the group. Harry and Kingsley were standing, eyes wary and moving their wands, sweeping from side to side to Ginny's left and right. Both of them covering half the nearby area. The rest of the group were crouched ready for action, even Andromeda, Teddy still clutched to her breast, had her wand out and levelled at the graveyard her eyes narrow and alert. Further out, Hermione and Ron just outside the shimmer of the shield, lay on the ground barely moving.

Six small forms laid around the graveyard in various prone poses. A couple of the bodies moved against the bonds but most were still. Dotted around them were the forms of fifteen more wizards, wands drawn and poised to strike should a target present itself.

At the edge of the graveyard a gate opened slowly for no apparent reason and just as slowly closed again.

The clouds moved and the shaft of sunlight faded and was gone. The stillness during the brief bright spot was as if the world had taken a deep breath before the tableau below erupted in a flurry of action.

Ron and Hermione were being pushed along the corridors of St Mungo's an Auror flanking each of them . Ron laid as still as possible on the levitating gurney, wincing at the occasional jolt. Hermione was following him in a wheel chair, curled into a ball with her eyes still vacant and lost.

At the same time Molly and Arthur entered through the ancient shop window and straight into reception. Before the receptionist could say anything, one of the healers collected them and they were led through several sets of doors until they reached one of the ground floor wards.

They arrived at the ward, nodded to the Auror at the door who returned the nod and went in to find healers crowding around Ron who looked pale and was still grimacing in pain every time he breathed. The head healer was casting his wand over Ron's chest. He nodded to his assistant and they selected a couple of potions and sat Ron up so he could drink them.

The healer turned to Molly and Arthur 'Hello, my name is Healer Weston and I'll be looking after your son and daughter while they stay with us.'

'Actually Healer Weston' said Arthur. 'It's our Son and his girlfriend' he advised the wizard.

'Oh I do apologise, they came in here so quick we just assumed they were related.'

'Maybe one day' said Molly. Healer Weston's eyebrow's shot up ~but they're young~ he thought.

'I presume then that you could contact' he glanced at his clipboard 'Hermiooonie's parents?'

'It's Hermione and no we can't, they're erm still in hiding after the war.' Arthur had to admit it was a bit lame as an explanation but he was sure that Hermione wouldn't want the real situation to be revealed. 'Okay, well is there anyone else who we could contact?' said healer Weston doggedly trying to follow to usual procedures as best he could.

'Not really' said Arthur 'She's muggle born so no-one else in her family really knows much about where she is and what she does.'

'She's been friends with Ron since the first year of Hogwarts and she often spends most of the summer at our house.' Added Molly determinedly.

Healer Weston took one look at the formidable woman and wisely decided that procedures could go hang for now. The girl was of age so the parental contact was more of a formality than a requirement.

'Okay, well your son will be fine in a couple of days. He's cracked a few ribs but no more than that. We've started him on a pain relief potion and then we'll see about fixing those ribs up but I'd like to keep him in overnight for observation.' he turned to the other bed where Hermione laid curled up at the top of the bed.

'As for Miss' he consulted his clipboard again 'Granger...' He paused as the knut dropped. He flicked over another sheet and muttered '...and Mr Weasley.' ~Well~ he thought ~that explains the Auror escort~

'We can talk about Miss Granger in a moment.' He said hurriedly and started whispering to the other healers his arms wind-milling animatedly as he emphasized his points with large gestures. Molly and Arthur looked on slightly concerned as to what exactly was transpiring here.

Robbard's was waiting at what he considered to be a reasonably safe distance from the argument going on around Ginny. The owl, and almost immediately afterwards Mafalda Hopkirk herself, had arrived from the Improper Use of Magic Office wanting to speak with one Miss Weasley regarding the use of a shield charm by an under-age witch.

In fact, the charm had been so powerful that it had fried the Vestigium in the improper use of magic office that was responsible for monitoring Ginny. It was only the quick employment of an aguamenti spell on the waste paper basket that had avoided a fire breaking out. As it was the rack that had held the device was little more than charred remains.

The head Auror was making his way towards Kingsley and Harry to report what they had found and explain just how six Goblins had got through the guard. He wasn't exactly in a hurry and stopped to watch Ginny in full flow with Mafalda while poor Harry was trying to calm the situation. Kingsley, wisely stepped back and waited for an opportune moment.

The dark council, as they styled themselves, convened in the usual large room. Bogrod had left a few hours previously to stop the attack on Potter and his friends. The room had since been re-arranged and was now like a small square of an old gentleman's club in the middle of a large ball room. The comfy wing back chairs and coffee tables out of place on the marble floor with the fluted columns towering over them. The room echoed with clicks as the group slowly convened, their boots taping away as they walked from the entrance to the semi circle of chairs.

Once they had all taken their places, the leader leaned forward out of his chair. 'It would seem,' he said slowly and deliberately, 'that our goblin friends usefulness may have run its course sooner than I expected.' The rest of the group remained silent knowing from bitter experience that he would want to say his piece uninterrupted. The leader permitted himself a small smile, ~they're learning~ he thought ~even my brother understands now~

'The attack today, whilst useful,' he paused, 'ultimately put us and our operation at risk. Bogrod it appears is not above "evening the odds" and used several dark items in addition to one of our port keys and, I suspect, one those wands we acquired from that group of snatchers.'

'Fortunately he managed to retrieve the wand and port key before any further damage could be done.' The group collectively breathed a sigh of relief; unfortunately, it was to be short lived.

'However, he also took several phials of the Mortem Obturamentum potion on the mission. Apparently he swallowed the story about its properties without question and from what old leaky has told me, so did the goblins who staged the ambush. Those that survived the initial fight only did so for a hour.' He turned to one of the chairs 'My compliments to the chef' he said smiling a humourless smile and nodding in the direction still obscured wizard.

'So,' he said sitting back in the chair, 'therein lies the problem as I would guess by now that Bogrod is well aware that none of the goblins escaped and most likely that several were killed before the fight was over. Certainly Bogrod was not among the captured even though I suspect he observed the attack.' He let the impact of this statement sink in to the group for a few seconds.

'As project Fenik is still a couple of weeks away from completion, I would like your suggestions on what we can do to ensure the Goblins continue to provide us adequate cover with their petty plans for revenge without exposing our activities to the ministry just yet'

The group looked nervously at each other each wanting to speak up but none wanting to be the first.

Rabastan sat back and relaxed, enjoying for a moment his brother's discomfort. He could see Rodolphus trying to hide his fear and worry. While it had probably convinced the others, he knew his brother better than that and could tell that the goblins behaviour had seriously rattled him. Given the dressing down that he'd been dished earlier for highlighting this very issue, he was happy to let his brother worry some more before suggesting any solution. He glanced around the group to see who would make the first suggestion.

Parkinson leaned forward, 'We could just cut them loose?' He said nervously. Rodolphus slowly turned to look at him and paused for a moment to increase his discomfort before saying 'Go on...'

Parkinson licked his lips and continued. 'Withdraw all of our support and leave them to it, they would continue causing problems and we would be safe to continue.'

'I see,' said Rodolphus 'and what exactly is your plan to stop them interfering with our operation in revenge?' Parkinson looked dumbstruck as he tried to think of a response.

The only witch in the group came to his rescue 'We why not just shop them now then? All we need to do is keep our heads down and the goblin problem will be gone.'

'So you're volunteering to act as our distraction instead then Shiana?' came back the reply from Rabastan with some venom ~Idiots~ he thought ~why can't they not think before opening their mouths~ he recalled telling his brother the same thing not a few hour previously but at least he had the excuse that it was in the middle of a conversation. His hand crept towards his wand, fingers twitching.

'Kill a few of em' said Nott with relish as Shiana breathed a little easier, the slowly moving wand hand with twitching fingers hadn't been lost on her and she had been bracing herself for the pain before the attention went elsewhere.

Rodolphus looked at Nott with a certain amount of resigned despair in his eyes. They'd joined Voldemort together all those years ago but while Rodolphus had learned much at the feet of Voldemort and from his Bella, Nott had never been anything more than thug. ~an effective thug~ he thought ~but a thug none the less~ 'Nott,' he said wearily, 'why is violence your answer to every problem?' He paused for effect 'No. Killing some of the goblins will not keep them doing what we want and runs the risk of them turning on us. You do know that one of them was wielding a Lactaverunt dagger during the ambush?'

The group collectively shuddered, they knew of the dagger and what it could do. The last thing they wanted to see was it used anywhere near themselves.

Finally Rabastan decided that his brother had suffered enough inane suggestions and interrupted the debate 'Actually, the intent behind Nott's suggestion is good, it's just the execution that's poor.' Rabastan waited for Rodolphus to face him before continuing allowing himself a small smile at the obvious irritation shown on his brothers face. 'What we want is to make sure that the goblins continue to cause a distraction without endangering our operation and without us need to lend a hand directly.' He had the group's attention now and moved to the main suggestion. 'Imperius Bogrod' he held up his hand to stop them interrupting too quickly 'Imperius Bogrod and we work as the power behind the throne. The goblins do what we want and we can continue our preparations without worrying if they are inadvertently going to reveal us.'

Rodolphus looked at his brother with a mix of envy and relief. Sure he was annoyed that his brother had made the suggestion he had planned to reveal but it was worth that annoyance to avoid having to listen to any more ill thought out plans from the others. He briefly reflected that, while certainly keen, they were not really death eater material. Although Nott had been one under Voldemort he knew that the dark lord had always regarded him as blunt tool that couldn't be trusted without close supervision. As for the other two Parkinson was only on board thanks to his daughter and Shiana was no better than a snatcher even if she was an exceptional potion maker.

However, in the few days after the war, these were the only other sympathetic souls he could find. The ministry was still catching up with some of Voldemort's' followers each week and the people he would prefer to have were almost certainly hiding in the deepest darkest hole they could find for the near future and things have calmed down.

'Okay what about other goblins that Bogrod has told?' Rabastan shrugged, 'I doubt Bogrod is an accomplished occlumency practitioner, on the other hand brother I know that you and Bella practised Legilimency for the last couple of years in attempt to get to Snape.'

~Bastard~ thought Rodolphus ~I should have known our secret training wouldn't have escaped your notice, even if we never tried it out on you personally~ He hid the anger as best he could although a brief rage flashed over his eyes before he continued 'So we imperious Bogrod, use legilimency to confirm if he has told any other goblins and then control their actions for the next couple of weeks through Bogrod?' He left the suggestion hanging in the air and looked around the group daring one of them to break the silence. Even his brother shifted slightly uncomfortably in his seat as Rodolphus's gaze passed over him but none of them spoke as his gaze returned to rest on his brother.

'Okay so our plan of action is agreed then.' He briefly turned to the rest of the group 'I suggest you all leave now before our guest arrives. It would appear that Bogrod is eager to hear the next phase of the plan.' He permitted himself a brief humourless smile as the rest of the council rose from their chairs to leave.

'Not you Rabastan.' He said not bothering to turn round as he watched the other three leave.

'Ginny' Harry pleaded 'calm down and we can sort this out.'

'MISS WEASLEY...' Mafalda began, by now exasperated, with her third attempt to get a word in edge ways.

'CALM DOWN!' Ginny cut in having briefly paused for breath 'We get get attacked by a bunch of Goblins, the Auror department are nowhere in sight except my boyfriend and brother.'. To the side Robbard's and Kingsley both cringed as the truth of this stuck home but Ginny barely paused in her rant. 'I cast one measly little shield charm to help out in the fight and the ministry are on me like Niffler in a goldmine.' She paused, temporally ranted out.

~Ginny, please~ Harry tried a different tack as she rounded to him reaching for her wand 'I shouldn't have asked you to cast that spell. It's my fault, not yours.'

~My fault~ Thought Harry, echoing his comment.

~Harry!~ Ginny thought back ~Don't you dare blame yourself!~

She stood back contritely. 'I cast the spell even though I know I shouldn't have as I'm under-age her voice dripping with concern as she took Harry's hand and looked into his eyes, trying to reach out to him before he let himself sink into another deep depression.

'Right then' said Mafalda determinedly 'now it's been established that you did cast the spell, are there any extenuating circumstances?' She looked at the couple but they were more absorbed in each other and she presumed hadn't actually heard her. She opened her mouth to repeat herself, again getting frustrated at what seemed to her to be a straight forward case.

Kingsley stepped up judging that things had calmed down enough for him to speak without being shouted down. 'Mafalda' He said gently as he took her arm.

'Minister?' she replied surprised to see him here and jumping slightly as he steered her away from Harry and Ginny to a discrete distance, Robbard's moved round to join them.

'I'd take it as a personal favour if you'd simply let this matter slide.' said Kingsley quietly. At the same time he was shooting covert looks towards Harry who by now was kneeling on the floor with Ginny gently cradling his head. A muffled sobbing briefly emerged from the couple until a muffliato charm was cast by Robbard's who stepped up to the group twirling his wand. His eyes professing innocence regarding the recently cast spell.

'I agree' he said 'For all her yelling, Ginny was spot on about the ministry and the Auror office dropping the Quaffle on this one and we have to applaud her swift response to the threat.'

'So she really did shield the group from further attack?' said Mafalda looking rather pleased with this turn of affairs.

'Yes' said Kingsley silently breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn't going to have to throw his weight as minister around. 'You can still see the circle where the dust fetched up against the shield. She covered all of us, even after that Goblin set off some detonators as a distraction.'

Robbard looked at the size of the circle in the dust. Although disturbed in many places, it was clearly at least 10ft across. His eyes widened as he exclaimed 'Ginny did THAT?'.

Ron and Hermione were lying in separate beds with a small cabinet between the beds. They were now in a private room off the main ward and Healer Weston was just finishing checking Ron's ribs before he turned back to a much relieved and more comfortable Mr and Mrs Weasley.

'Right' said the healer 'As I said before, Mr Weasley is fine, the potions we just gave him have started to take effect and the ribs are knitting back together nicely. He will have a bit of a rough night, although the pain relief will take the edge off that, but he should be fine to leave tomorrow.

Molly sagged slightly with relief as Arthur managed a small smile not quite managing to keep the worry from showing through.

The healer turned to the young witch who despite repeated efforts was still curled up at the top of the bed. 'As for Miss Granger, I'm not sure what else I can do.' He said clearly frustrated at his lack of progress. 'We've dealt with the superficial scratches and bruises but I've no idea how to get her to wake up.' He turned back to Molly and Arthur 'You say she didn't get hit by a stray spell or knocked on the head?' he questioned.

Molly's bottom lip started to quiver slightly but she rallied and managed 'We didn't see exactly what happened as we were both covering the other side of the graveyard but when we turned round we saw Ron dive over the top of Hermione and literally yank the goblin off of her. They rolled over and over until they came to a rest with Ron on top of the goblin. She got up and went to join him when... Ron...' Molly couldn't continue she managed to fish a hankie out from her bag and blew her nose, valiantly trying to regain her composure to continue but not able to as the scene played over and over in her mind.

Arthur tried to comfort his wife as best he could but like most men he didn't really know what he could do except hold her.

Healer Weston looked at them with compassion and said 'I can go and arrange some tea' he said, feeling almost as useless as Arthur.

Arthur looked at him, tears in his eyes but a determination that marked all of the Weasley's as dangerous people to cross. 'No' he said slightly weakly 'Let's get this over with then you can get us both a cup of tea.' Moving over to a double sofa he sat Molly down and still holding her hand turned back to the healer.

We were attacked by a group of Goblins, not Gringotts goblins' he added hastily 'but we suspect those who were most sympathetic to you-know-who. They seem to be using the recent fall of the dark lord as an excuse to try and get back at those responsible. The goblin that Ron pulled off of Hermione was about to stab her with a dagger in the chest. The same dagger ended up in the goblin and the hilt cracked Ron's ribs as he fell on the goblin. I suspect what has upset Hermione so much was the sight of the Goblin afterwards.'

'Surely' said healer Weston forgetting himself for a moment and interrupting 'she would have been relieved to see her attacker dead.'

Molly blew her nose loudly but kept her head bowed as Arthur continued. 'Ordinarily I'd have said yes myself, especially with what she has been through in the last year but you see the dagger was cursed. So much so that we avoided touching it even to remove it from the corpse despite the fact that the goblins body was noticeably smoking. It's this last bit that may have unnerved Hermione, It gave me the collywobbles.'

Healer Weston was in shock himself and just kept looking from the two young adults in his care back to Molly and Arthur. Even through the war he had not seen anything as bad as this and he, like many, had thought that those dark days were now behind them. His gaze was drawn back towards Hermione ~no wonder you're still asleep~ he though. ~I'd be willing to bet that Goblin came very close to actually stabbing you and seeing the effect of the dagger afterwards pushed you over the edge.~

Arthur tapped healer Weston on his shoulder, interrupting his revue. 'About that tea?' he asked. The healer turned and reached into his pocket. 'Tea? After news like that?' he said withdrawing a silver hip flask from his pocket. 'I think this needs more than tea!' he opened the hip flask and offered it to Arthur 'Ogden's finest?'

Ginny barely heard the noises of the graveyard die away as the muffliato charm took hold, encasing them both in a bubble of tranquillity. Her full concentration was on Harry and trying to keep him from sinking too far into another depression.

~My fault~ she heard over and over in her head but it was distant, as if being softly spoken in the room next door.

~Harry, I love you~ She threw the thought at him like a life belt to a drowning man, putting all of her Love and compassion into the thought.

To Harry it was as if someone had struck a match in a deep cave. A brief flash of light threw the edges of his awareness into terrifying relief with shadows dancing around as if taunting him. He mentally blinked and the walls smoothed themselves and the shadows resolved into five figures standing at the points of a pentagram but as he turned back to the centre of the chamber, where the light burned brightest, he could see another person, a small clearly female figure.

The light was now emanating both from behind her outlining her in a golden glow and from within providing soft illumination of her features, the red hair, the brown eyes. Harry reached out and took her outstretched hands ~My Ginny~ he thought as he looked into her eyes.

-Blink-

The graveyard resolved itself around them although Harry still had his eyes firmly on Ginny.

~Harry, when will you get it into your head that it's not your fault?~

Harry looked at her a little sheepishly giving her one of his half smiles that she found so attractive.

'Ginny love', her heart sang out as he looked at her seriously 'It's both our faults if anything. I shouldn't have asked you to raise the shield but I'm glad you did.'

'Actually darling, you didn't ask.' Harry's forehead wrinkled in confusion 'I'm sure I did' he said almost to himself.

'You thought of raising a shield' she clarified 'I picked up on that and automatically raised one around the ….' She looked around the ground and noted the broken circle in the dust '..group?' she finished her eyes widening as she realised what exactly she had done.

Robbard lifted the muffliato charm and the three adults walked towards a wide eyed Ginny and slightly confused looking Harry who appeared to be unsure of what to make of the odd looks on the faces of the rest of the group.

'Harry, Ginny.' Said Robbard seriously 'Let me be the first to apologise on behalf of the Ministry.' He held his hand up to ask Kingsley to let him finish 'These Goblins should never have been able to get this close to you and we should have detected them when we swept the church and the surrounding land prior to the funeral. The only explanation that makes sense is that they were disillusioned and simply kept very still and quiet when we were searching.' He shook his head and continued 'I just wish that we had an equivalent of the Homenum revelio spell for Goblins.' he mused.

Kingsley stepped forwards 'What can I say? Gawain was right about us messing up here and I can only add my voice to his in apology. In our defence, we genuinely thought that the announcement about you and Ron joining the Aurors would dissuade the Goblins but this was the most public of the funerals and the details had been circulated fairly widely before we knew of the threat against you. Rest assured that we'll be moving the other funerals so that we can keep the details secret as much as possible.'

'Thank you Kingsley' Ginny said simply and rested her head on Harry's shoulder.

'And this is for you Miss Weasley' said Mafalda handing her a sealed parchment.

~Might as well get this over with~ thought Ginny resigned to her fate as she opened the seal

Harry couldn't see the contents of the parchment initially but he he was getting some odd feelings from his girlfriend, Starting with hesitation, moving to frustration and then suddenly elation.

'YES!' shouted Ginny as she punched the air and jumped over to hug Mafalda. Kingsley and Gawain for their part were both beaming at the display. Only Harry was left trying to work out what the hell was going on. Kingsley must have noticed as he turned to Harry and said 'Harry, I feel it only fair to warn you that your girlfriend no longer has no restriction on her use of magic. We can't raise the trace without a full meeting of the Wizengamot and with the few weeks we have until Ginny's birthday, it's not practicable. However Ms Hopkirk, Auror Robbard and myself have decided that in light of the ongoing threats to yourself and Miss Weasley that the ministry will no longer monitor Ginny's Vestigium'

'Besides' said Mafalda who by now had managed to fend off a much relived Ginny 'I'm not even sure it's safe to have the thing in the open right now, not after the strength of that shield charm fried it.'

~Ah, I wonder if that was when I sent you that support through the bond as the explosions went off?~ mused Harry.

~Possibly, but let's ask Dad later. That way we don't need to tell others about the bond~

~Good idea~ Harry agreed.

'So now that's resolved,' said Harry 'just one question.' He turned to Gawain 'Auror Robbard, did we find the wand?'

Bogrod sat on the usual seat in the anti chamber to the hall, his legs dangling a foot above the floor on the human sized chair. He fidgeted as his anger was building. Insult piled on insult from the dark council. 'AND FOR WHAT?' he exclaimed loudly before returning to his brooding.

~They promised much and delivered nothing~

-His hands gripping the arms of the chair-

~All this time and they could have helped me exact revenge against our common enemy~

-The arms creaked alarmingly under the pressure-

~all the time they just strung me along~

-The first distressed cracks appeared in the varnish, up an d down the arms-

~Why do they want to protect HARRY POTTER?~

-The arms disintegrated in the goblins grip-

As he held his bloody hands up and looked at them he vowed on his blood that the dark council would help him bring down Harry Potter...

~or die trying~ he thought nastily...


	9. Chapter 9

Hermione lay curled up on the bed; and as far as anyone could see, oblivious to world around her. In the few hours she had been in St Mungo's she'd had a string of "visitors"; healers, well-wishers and the curious. The latter group rarely getting anything more the brief glimpse of her and Ron before the Aurors moved them on. With the arrival of several more wizards from magical law enforcement they had now extended the exclusion area so the best that the nosey wizards and witches would see was an anonymous door.

In the room behind he door, Ron lay with his hand in Hermione's, the beds having been pushed together by healer Weston in a last ditch attempt to stop Ron from moving around too much while his ribs were healing. Much to Molly's rising dismay, the healer had tried reason, threats and then actual body binds before giving in and moving the bed so he could hold his girlfriends hand.

Ron's ribs were still tender and he kept his breaths shallow but his hand never left Hermione's nor did his tear filled eyes as he watched her seemingly dead to the world.

Unnoticed by all in the room though, her eyelid's flickered with rapid movement.

Kingsley was sat in Robbard's office for the second time in as many days. Harry and Ginny had just left for St Mungo's to visit Ron and Hermione and the Auror and ex-Auror slumped in their chairs.

The old friends looked at each other over the desk before Kingsley finally broke the silence. 'Gawain' he appealed 'Please tell me you have something more I can tell Harry.'

The Auror looked at him, the frustration clear in his eyes. 'I'm afraid we know little more than we did before.' he replied despondently 'By the time we realised they had taken poison they were all dead. We're trying to evaluate some samples to see if we can determine what they took but given they were under guard most of the time we are assuming that it was a delayed action potion.'

'Is that going to be able to help us?' Kingsley asked hopefully.

'Probably not' replied Gawain sounding, if anything, gloomier. 'the potion itself is likely to be fairly complicated but nothing that a reasonably competent potion maker couldn't brew. The likely ingredients are also fairly common and the rarer ones can be dried and stored while still retaining potency. I've got a team out checking the apothecary's though just in case.'

'So a cold trail' said Kingsley, now sharing Gawain's depressed tone of voice. 'but what about the dagger and the tunic?' asked Kingsley optimistically.

'Again, not much information' said Gawain. 'The dagger is one of the Lactaverunt daggers...' He grimaced before continuing '...that have been floating around for years. You know we've been after them ever since you found that one back in 81'. The problem is we still don't know how many there were in the first place or who had them.'

'Still' said Kingsley with a slightly forced cheerfulness that he didn't really feel but felt he should try to inject into the meeting 'there is one less out there now.'

Gawain missed the lighter tone as he morosely started shuffling through the reports on his desk before pulling out the sheet of parchment he wanted. 'We think the tunic that female goblin was wearing was somehow constructed from a number of the Weasley's shield hats. Unfortunately with the number of stunner's used to breach the protection it offered and it's frankly shoddy construction, we had little of the garment left to work with afterwards.'

He looked up as his boss, 'All we can do now is filter through the reports of everyone there and see if we can piece together what happened. Besides the prophet will be sniffing around soon as well. Even though their reporter left at the end of the service, we have to assume that they already know about the attack.'

Kingsley groaned and he too started to read through the reports; the sound of crackling parchment filled the room as the intense reading began.

'Rabastan' said Rodolphus bringing his hands together at the finger tips as he leaned forwards to stare at his brother.

'Rodolphus' he replied warily, managing to keep the nervousness he felt out of his voice ~So~ he thought ~is this it, you let it get away from you and now you're looking for a scapegoat?~ He started back at his brother and could see something unreadable in his eyes. He started to tense but his instincts told him probably wasn't anger even though his brother was good at hiding his true feelings.

~Or perhaps~ he mused ~you're looking for an ally...~

Rodolphus held his gaze for a moment more then started 'These are hard times and I need to know that I can trust you.'

~Ally it is then~ thought Rabastan inwardly relaxing. 'In what way do you need my trust?'

Rodolphus exploded 'ISN'T IT OBVIOUS?' A shocked silence filled the room as the brothers stared at each other.

~Calm down, deep breath~ he thought and getting his temper under control. 'Isn't it obvious? The rest of the council are not exactly Death Eater material I think you'll agree.' Rabastan nodded in agreement but left his brother to continue talking.

'I need allies my brother.' he paused 'We...need...allies' he over emphasized each word. 'Competent people we can trust' he continued.

~I could just hang you out to dry~ reflected Rabastan, not really listening ~There can easily be enough evidence to point back to you. I could just go to ground and let you take the fall...~

'Together we could rebuild so that we are respected again. So we have the power that is due as our birthright.'

~Merlin's beard the fool actually believes that pure blood supremacy tosh that the dark lord pushed so much~ Rabastan internally shook his head as he bought his attention back to the conversation in hand ~Doesn't he understand that was just a means to an end? Even the dark lord himself wasn't pure blood~

'Now, more than ever, we need quality in our ranks. As the Dark Lord showed with the Death Eaters, quantity comes in time.'

~Yes~ he thought slowly ~Quality is needed. Not rabid support for outdated propaganda~ he smiled indulgently at his brother.

'I understand you' he said putting his hand on his brothers shoulder before continuing 'Right now, we need to work with what we have and once project Fenik is complete others will come to our banner. I can see that we may need to prune the tree down the line, some less than useful associates may need to leave us' ~Like you my brother~ he added silently in his mind 'but right now we need to keep hold of all our supporters and gather more.'

Now it was Rodolphus's turn to smile 'I'm glad you understand me; now have you any suggestions for new recruits.'

'Well I know he's not exactly trustworthy in a tight spot but what about Malfoy?' the open question was laced with challenge.

'Which one?' said Rodolphus, trying to cover his surprise at the venom in his brother's voice.

'Both' he replied.

.

.

.

'Go on.' Said Rodolphus calmly. ~This should be good~ he thought.

Bogrod seethed quietly. Building his anger until he could use it. For at least an hour he had been made to wait; standing for the last twenty minutes as he had finally destroyed the remaining chairs in anger. Several of the paintings in the hall were slashed as a result and his blood was splattered across them from his still bleeding hands. He clenched his fist as the blood oozed through his fingers. He looked as it glistened over his knuckles and he comforted himself with the thought that soon...SOON!...it would be mixed with wizard blood.

She mentally blinked.

Hermione was on her back in the graveyard again. She could see the dagger. It was suspended above her in the hand of the goblin. She looked around the clearing. The gravestones and shrubs were picked out in exquisite detail. Her head slowly rotated to the side as she looked to her left. She could see a spider slowly sliding down its silk rope and a patch of yellow daffodils swaying in the wind.

Looking back to the goblin she could see each bead of sweat on his forehead moving at a snail's pace as it dripped down his craggy face. She knew that any second, without warning, the dagger would be unleashed to start plunging towards her.

.

.

.

The dagger moved.

Her full attention now focused on the blade as it moved slowly down towards her, as if through treacle rather than air.

Inch by inch the dagger would crawl closer until finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she would feel the tip reaching her chest. Next the blade would briefly prick before starting to slowly slide into her, burning all the way to the hilt.

She could feel herself start to shrivel up just as the Goblin had done. Starting at the knife blade, the pressure and pain rapidly spread throughout her body. The satisfied evil grin of the Goblin would start to fill her failing vision as she lost feeling in her fingers and toes. Within seconds her arms and legs would be frozen but the pain continued even after she was unable to move.

She could feel her heart start to flutter as it tried to function with icy cold blood flowing through it. Her heart rate slowing and faltering and then suddenly she couldn't breathe. Nothing she could do would allow the precious air into her lungs. She opened and closed her mouth, lungs starting to burn now and with her last strength opened her mouth to scream. Into it she poured all of her loss and pain for one last act of defiance before the darkness claimed her...

The sun streamed through the window in fits and starts as the clouds moved rapidly across the sky blocking and unblocking the sunlight as if playing a God like game of peek-a-boo. Ron had finally dozed off, head towards Hermione and fingers still entwined with hers. Molly was asleep on the sofa in the room. Arthur was quietly chatting with, Carl Dingle, one of the wizards from Magical law enforcement who had just come on duty, voices low so as not to disturb the few moments of peace that his wife and son had managed to grab.

The peace that was shattered by Hermione as she screamed.

RRRRRRRONNNNNN!

A shocked silence enveloped the room as she sat bolt upright suddenly, her eyes wild. There was a yelp of pain from Ron as he was pulled across the bed by Hermione although he did manage to grab his wand in the process.

Arthur was a few seconds behind Ron in drawing his wand and Molly was also armed commendably fast. Carl was slower on the uptake but still had his want out in time to point it at healer Weston as he charged into to see his patents.

Staring at the business end of the four wands, he held his hands up palm open and said 'Okay, calm down' His eye flickered between the wand holders. 'can I please see my patents?' he asked.

'How do I take my tea?' asked Arthur his wand not wavering.

The healer frowned in confusion. 'I don't know' he said and saw the other wizard's eyes tense up as if mentally preparing to strike and hurriedly added 'I offered you fire whisky'.

Relief shone on Arthur's face as he said 'Carl he's fine' while he lowered his wand. The Healer moved towards the bed giving the group a wide berth and, glancing at Ron, called to the door. 'Wilson!' a slightly red face peered around the frame 'Yes healer Weston?' he asked tentatively, not knowing what to expect. 'Go to supplies and get a pain relief potion.' He looked again at Ron who was sweating profusely and looked very pale 'Better make it a No 2 special' Wilson's faces disappeared again to the accompaniment of new shoes slapping on the polished floor.

The healer turned back to Ron. 'Lay down, breath shallow, don't move' he commanded. Ron just about managed a nod of acknowledgement as the healer turned his attention to the young lady who had so recently been comatose on the bed.

'Good afternoon Hermione, my name is Healer Weston' he said quickly. He paused for breath 'You're in St Mungo's. You are fine physically apart from some scratches and bruises and your boyfriend has a few cracked ribs. Now how are you feeling right now?'

Her hands shot to her chest and started searching frantically for the wound before the healer gently took hold of them and looked at her. 'Hermione' She paused in her fruitless search and looked back at him with terror in her eyes. 'The dagger never touched you. Both you and your boyfriend are fine.'

'if a touch bruised.' he added.

For the first time since the graveyard, she looked down at Ron who was still sweating profusely and grimacing with the pain. She shook her hands free of healer Weston's and took Ron's hand as they lost themselves in each other's eyes.

'Oh Ron' she whispered.

McGonagall entered Robbards office and went straight to the minister, checking he was okay. Kingsley's eyes flashed to the side as he whispered 'later' without moving his lips. She tried to cover her behaviour with a muttered comment about Harry and Ginny but it didn't stop Robbard's from raising his eyebrow at the couple. At least until he caught Kingsley's eyes and saw the look that clearly said "Drop it".

Robbards shuffled the parchments in front of him to cover his surprise as Dawlish joined them and took a seat. He noted in passing that the minister and head mistress were sat closer to each other than he would usually expect and made a mental note to ask his friend about it afterwards, look or no look.

'Okay, this is what we know. At around 6:30 am the gravediggers finished the graves and left for breakfast. At 7 am the advanced Auror squad arrived and swept the graveyard with the usual counter jinx's and detection spells before placing the additional wards we agreed on.' he paused 'I think we have to assume that the Goblins were in position before the Aurors arrived and the spells failed to reveal them.'

Dawlish took the floor 'I debriefed the squad myself and once they had arrived and although they did notice several disturbances, these were all either the wind or obviously a wild animal. The only thing that we believe might have caused the goblins to escape detection was that in addition to being disillusioned, they were also crouched down and hiding. Wizards tend to rely on the spell and remain standing so as to be better placed to act when they want to. Our search patterns are based on this fact. We are testing the hiding hypothesis in the training room right now and it looks like the detection rates against wizards who are actively hiding and concealing themselves is significantly lower, especially if there is undergrowth in the way.' He coughed slightly nervously and looked over at Kingsley 'I took the liberty of seconding a couple of unspeakable's to help evaluate the testing Minister, I hope that's fine with you?'

Kingsley smiled 'Relax Dawlish. I would have suggested that myself if you hadn't beaten me to it.' He looked at both the Aurors 'Besides, unlike my predecessors, I know if my Aurors want to second somebody, they'll have a damn good reason and the best thing I can do is leave them to get on with the job.'

Robbards inwardly smiled at this not altogether unexpected vote of confidence and continued. 'From this point onwards we had three or four wizards patrolling constantly throughout the graveyard all through the service. We thought that cycling the wizards on patrol would help to keep them fresh and allow as many of them as possible to attend at least part of the service. Tonks was popular in the office as you well know Kingsley.' He nodded his acknowledgement as Robbard's continued 'After the main funeral the guards headed back to the ministry and other duties.' he pinched his nose and squeezed his eyes shut briefly. 'Sorry minster, we didn't think the goblins would attack after we publicized Harry and Ron's appointments and we certainly didn't expect them to attack such a big group. Goblins are renowned for carefully picking their fights and making damn sure they have the advantage of numbers before going up against wizards.'

A brief silence fell over the impromptu meeting before it was broken by McGonagall .

'Pardon me for the obvious question' she said rather primly 'but what exactly where they trying to achieve then if the attack was so out of character?'

'So then brother, shall we invite the Goblin in?' Rodolphus said.

They had spent the last fifteen minutes covering names of wizards they knew who were likely still free and possibly approachable to join. Both lists had been depressingly short but they had contained similar names. Rodolphus was less than happy with the fact that the best that either of them could come up with was the Malfoys but he took some comfort that if he was annoyed, then Rabastan was apoplectic with having to go asking to the Malfoys ~I wonder what Lucius did to annoy my brother so much~ Rodolphus mused and made a mental note to find out.

Rabastan took a deep breath and grinned humourlessly at his brother. 'Might as well, I did hear the breaking of furniture during our little chat.'

'Yes' he replied ~and the implications of that breaking aren't lost on me either~ 'so I want you to Imperius him.'

'Me?' he exclaimed as he was caught off guard.

'Yes, he won't be expecting you. If you disillusion yourself first, he's likely to storm right past you and focus on me.' he turned to face Rabastan and raised his wand. 'And I expect you to do it quickly and efficiently, this is not the time to dawdle.' Hoping that firm commands would cover his nervousness.

~Scared my brother~ thought Rabastan with vindictive humour ~As well you should be. An angry goblin is more than a match for a wizard~ He paused as long as he dared, letting his brother stew before nodding his acknowledgement to hide a brief smile. He drew his wand, cast the charm and slowly faded out of view from Rodolphus.

Confident that his brother could no longer be seen, he took his customary place in the Wing-back chair and, with a wave of his wand levitated several lit candles to darken the shadow that hid his face. Finally satisfied that all was ready he opened the door to the ante room with a practised flick of the wrist before stowing his wand in his sleeve

Bogrod looked up slowly from his hands and smiled without humour as the double door clicked open and swung inwards revealing the familiar room before him. ~At last~ he thought and tensed himself before stepping through.

The private room was already becoming pretty crowded. Harry and Ginny had arrived about half an hour previously and found Ron and Hermione sitting up on their respective beds with Molly and Arthur in discussions with the healers . The four friends quickly caught up with what had happened after the fight. Ron looked a little wide eyed when finding out that Ginny could now use magic freely but mostly they were just glad that they had all survived with limited injuries.

The door swung open to admit the Minister and Head Auror as the level of the conversation dropped both groups looked up at the new arrivals. Healer Weston broke the silence 'Minister, to what do we owe the pleasure?'

'I've come to see your patients and Harry and Ginny wanted to be filled in on what we found out so far.' he waved a sheaf of parchment 'I've also got some home work for them.' Hermione's eyes lit up 'oh, is that the statement?' she asked but before Kingsley could reply the healer jumped in 'Minister! My patients need complete rest. I can't allow you come in here and give them work to do.' Hermione replied brightly 'Oh I don't mind healer.'

Ron looked up the healer 'In Hermione's case Healer Weston, homework is relaxing.' Healer Weston shrugged, he wasn't going to try and fight with both the minister for magic and the four friends ~especially if what I've heard so far is true~ 'Okay fine' he said in a resigned tone before pointing at Ron 'I'll be back in an hour with your next potion dose young man but no sudden movements.' Ron rolled his eyes but said nothing as the healer left the room.

'So' said Kingsley rubbing his hands together, 'what do you want first; the statement or the report?'

Harry looked at Ron, then Hermione and finally Ginny. They were all looking at him expectantly ~your choice oh great leader~ intoned Ginny teasingly in her mind. Harry ignored the comment and turned to the minister 'Okay let's get the worse over with, what did you find out about the goblins in the graveyard?'

Had the meeting taken place an hour or so before, Bogrod would likely have simply exchanged angry words with the mysterious wizard. There would have been many accusations and the wizard would have been left under no illusion that the tenuous alliance was in danger of breaking maybe they would have come to a more beneficial agreement.

Now however, after an hour of waiting with nothing but his bitter resentment for company, Bogrod was barely thinking coherently. The blood rage, as the goblins termed it, was on him.

Nothing but the death of the wizard, whoever he may be, would satisfy him.

In his head he was planning the first couple of steps in the attack, although planning was perhaps too strong a word. All it really consisted of was getting the coffee table out the way and leaping at the wizard with claws out. Usually the outcome after this point was predictable and frequently messy.

Bograd stormed into the large room, his arms pumping at his sides as he prepared himself to launch an attack on his wizard contact. His unshod feet clicking across the floor as claws naturally extended themselves. The tempo of the clicks increased as he accelerated across the floor towards the chair.

In the chair, Rodolphus's eyes widened and he involuntarily leaned back in surprise. He blinked and started to fumble for his wand. An activity not helped by the fact that he couldn't bring himself to take his eyes of the charging goblin.

'So then Kingsley,' Hermione said 'what exactly where the goblins trying to achieve?' The room was silent and less crowded as the healers had been gently chased out by Healer Weston leaving just the Weasley's, Harry and Hermione with the Minster and Auror. They had re-covered the findings with the group and had all rallied around Hermione as the dagger and its effects were covered. Ron, although he would have loved to properly comfort his girlfriend, was thankful that Harry was there to handle the fierce hugs as his ribs still ached even with the pain relief potion.

Both of them looked at the group ~I can see that I might end up having to fight to keep her in the ministry~ though Kingsley idly ~Minerva had exactly the same thought~ but it was Gawain who broke the silence. 'To be honest' he said looking them in the eyes 'we simply don't understand what is going on. The goblins are acting so much out of character that every assumption we would normally apply is useless.'

Kingsley held up his hand and started counting off the fingers 'One, they generally only attack when they have the benefit of numbers. The couple of magic items they had, although nasty, didn't really offer much to tip the balance in their favour. Two, the wand they must have used to disillusion themselves could have tipped the balance towards the group but wasn't found on any of the Goblins. Three, the attack pattern was so random as to be useless. The best strategists in the ministry have looked at it and can discern no logical purpose to it which doesn't match with the frankly impressive initial step to set-up the ambush. And four, all the goblins are now dead having taken a slow acting poison.'

'Goblins always look to have exit planned before they attack.' Arthur added 'That fits with what Bill has told us in the past, Goblins always look to profit from any activity, that's why Gringotts is so rich.'

'Could a wizard be aiding them?' asked Harry 'After all, someone must have cast the Disillusionment Charm.' The group looked at each other and Ron was the first to speak 'Unlikely' he declared before explaining 'What is he going to gain by providing this aid? Firstly if he gets caught, he's most likely off to Azkaban for an extended visit so for that risk you'd expect them to have a more coherent plan than we saw in action, even if...' ~Hermione~ He though suddenly and shut his mouth. His Girlfriend smiled weakly at him and took his hand again while she looked lovingly at his face. Ron just looked back, adoration clear in his eyes.

They were interrupted by a loud 'EEEWWWUUGHH' from Ginny. 'Guys, get a room!'

The tension that had been sitting on Kingsley and Robbards lifted suddenly as they both tried unsuccessfully not to laugh. Hermione looked at Ginny and calmly replied 'Actually this is our room, so if you don't mind..' Whatever she might have been planning to add to the comment was lost as she took the opportunity to kiss Ron soundly on the lips. A kiss that Ron was eager to respond to.

Ginny for her part was looking on with a mixture of fascination for a side of Hermione she didn't think had existed and a certain discomfort at watching her brother snogging a girl ~Damn~ she thought ~It's Lavender all over again, I've created another monster~

That in turn set off Harry who had been managing to keep himself under control until he heard Ginny. She glared at him, not noticing that nearly everyone else was laughing at her predicament, and put her most haughty expression on 'We are not amused Potter!' This only sent Kingsley and the others off into a fresh round of laughter. Ginny could feel the embarrassment rising and, with a withered glance at Harry got up and swept from the room ignoring a plaintive ~Ginny~ that Harry sent towards her disappearing form.

Harry rose to follow his girlfriend until Arthur caught his arm. He turned to retort but saw the serious look in his eyes.

'Don't Son' Arthur warned 'At least, not until she's calmed down for a couple of minutes' Harry paused and nodded before looking in surprise at Molly who didn't seem to mind Ron busily snogging across the room.

He shook his head and sat down again ~How on earth am I ever supposed to understand Girls?~ he thought before detecting a certain smugness that he was sure wasn't him.

Bogrod reached the coffee table and, with one swipe of a clawed hand, flung it to the side with a small shower of splinters. There was a thump and an 'Ooofff' from the direction that the table had been flung.

Briefly, in a small part of his mind that was still coherent, Bogrod wondered if there was someone else in the room. But the rage that was controlling him dismissed it and he bunched his legs then let them uncoil as he propelled his small frame at the person in the wing backed chair. As he climbed to the height of his leap, he swung his legs under himself to bring all four sets of claws into position as he flew towards the wizard.

-Blink-

Rodolphus's fingers tantalisingly brushed his wand but he couldn't get a grip on it as it slipped further up his sleeve. Unable to help himself, he found his arms coming up to protect his face as the goblin got closer only for a flash of red light to shoot passed the goblin and strike the top of the chair causing it to start tipping over backwards.

-Blink-

Rodolphus tensed expecting the searing pain to start in his arms as the goblins claws tore into his flesh. But instead he heard a screech of frustration as several small lines of pain blossomed on the front of his arms, followed by the sound of fabric tearing in distress.

-Blink-

Bogrod desperately tried to adjust his point of attack as the chair dropped away under him but it was too far away for his claws to do anything more than surface scratches to the wizard, even if he had managed to tear impressive chunks out of both sides of the chair. He let out his frustrations in a screech as he twisted in the air to land behind the chair. His claws struggling to find purchase on the polished floor as his momentum carried him away from the chair and the wizard.

-Blink-

Rabastan was on all fours still trying to get his breath back from having a large coffee table slam into his stomach. The stunner had been a desperate measure but had taken all of his strength at the time and right now he was concentrating on keeping his lunch down as much as getting back up.

-Blink-

Rodolphus's breath whooshed out of him as he and the chair hit the floor hard. The impact dislodged his wand and it clattered away behind him and could be heard rolling away over the floor. ~Get up!~ he silently commanded his body, painfully aware that any moment Bogrod could return to attack again. ~MOVE~ he though as he managed to shift around in the chair and look in the direction of the Goblin.

-Blink-

Bogrod scrabbled and finally started to slow, his head looking towards the chair he had recently flown over to see the wizard struggling around to get up. A brief glint of light told him that his enemy's polished wand had escaped his grasp and was rolling towards him. Bogrod redoubled his efforts to return to the wizard, now he knew him to be vulnerable. He focused on the recumbent wizard as his arms and legs splayed out arresting his movement across the polished floor. As he came to a halt in a screech of claws on marble, he smiled and allowed himself a moment of glee as he saw the wand lying between them ~Vengeance is mine!~ He started back towards his hated enemy

-Blink-

Rodolphus looked up and momentarily locked eyes with Bogrod and saw the malice and joy there, realising that the goblin must be aware of the wand. With a desperation born of his survival instinct, he shook himself free from the chair ~wand, must get wand~ he thought as he crawled across the floor on all fours towards the wand that had now come to rest some feet away between the goblin and himself.

-Blink-

Rabastan looked up but couldn't see his brother behind the chair. Wand in hand he managed to raise himself as the goblin started back towards the toppled chair. He paused, ~I could just leave~ he thought ~I know the details of Project Fenik, I could go on without him~ He stood there in a frozen stasis not sure if he wanted to act or not.

-Blink-

Bogrod was now accelerating back towards his erstwhile wizard benefactor. He could see him also closing the distance between them in a desperate attempt to reach his wand. The wizard lurched forwards, fingers outstretched towards the wand.

-Blink-

Rodolphus misjudged the lunge and his middle finger flicked the wand away instead of grasping it. His heart fell as he watched it skitter away across the floor at some speed before bringing his focus back to the now triumphant goblin that had launched himself towards him again. Rodolphus closed his eyes and curled up. A scream of terror escaped his lips as the panic took hold and he braced himself for the pain.

-Blink-

There was a loud Thump and Rodolphus fainted.

Harry nervously walked along the corridor of St Mungo's. He'd managed just over a minute before going to look his girlfriend and was now trying to work out where she might have gone in the complex of rooms.

A small hand grabbed him and Harry found himself dragged into a broom cupboard. He was about to object when Ginny's finger touched his lips 'Ssshh' she said.

Harry looked at her as she breathed out sensually 'What took you so long?' as she started to kiss him. Harry's resistance crumbled almost instantly and he gladly kissed her back. Unseen behind his back a slim arm gently pulled the door shut.

Rodolphus came round to the sound of screams. As his head cleared he realised, to his relief, that the screams were those of a Goblin.

As he went to get up he found his wand in his hand. He looked at it, puzzled as to how it came to be there but gripped it firmly this time as he pulled himself up with the chair to find his brother wand in hand torturing Bogrod.

'I thought' He said carefully, 'that we had agreed to Imperius this...thing' he gestured at the small body that was contorting in pain on the floor.

'Oh' Rabastan smiled 'No hurry Brother' and Rodolphus now noticed that his brother was clutching his stomach as he said this.

He looked down at his own arms and at the shredded sections of the chair before returning his gaze to the goblin with an evil grin. 'Indeed, no hurry at all' and as his brother release the spell he moved his wand in the familiar movements 'CRUCIO!'

Rabastan ~That's right~ he thought ~Work your anger off on this creature before we send it on its way to do my bidding~ he paused, watching the small form twitching with renewed vigour as his brother exerted his will ~and be thankful that I decided I still need you right now~

George jolted awake as the fire whiskey bottles rolled into each other together causing a loud ringing. He opened his bloodshot eyes and squinted around the darkening room, not really seeing anything until he spotted the clock. Blinking rapidly, he groaned. He'd missed the Lupin's funeral. ~How~ he thought, not remembering the bottles of fire whisky that he'd drunk that morning.

The day had started badly with George waking to an empty flat. Breakfast had been skipped as it just reminded him of his Brother and the jokes and ideas that they often shared over the morning coffee. With tears in eyes, he had located a bottle of fire whisky and decided some fortification was in order if he was to go out to the funeral.

It had started with a 'quick one' to give him courage followed by one for Fred. Then one each, for Tonks and Remus followed by another one for Fred. This pattern continued through the morning as he wandered around there flat, pretending to get ready to go out. A shot for whatever topic took his fancy and then one for Fred. After the first bottle had gone and he hadn't managed to make the second toast to Fred, he tore the rooms apart in a panic. All the time swearing for all he was worth. He found another bottle in the kitchen and continued the toasts.

By the time he got half way down the new bottle the toasts were 'twwwoooo Fed' and, as the second bottle also approached empty, he finally slid down and passed out on the floor. The mostly empty bottle precariously held by his outstretched hand eventually slipped from his grasp and rolled in to the first empty bottle; waking him.

Now he drunkenly clawed his way to his feet and looked up through strained eyes at another red headed wizard. He squinted 'Fred?' he said with a rough throat 'Fred, is that you?'

The figure said nothing but continued to look back at George moving his lips in time with him. 'Damit Fred! stop messing me around' he said forcefully, getting more angry by the minute as the figure continued to wildly gesticulate at him.

'FRED!' he shouted as he pushed at the figure.

There was a creak as the figure seemed to fly upwards followed by a loud crash as the mirror hit the floor and shattered into thousands of pieces. George collapsed to the floor again and curled up while muttering in a quiet, frightened voice 'Fred, why did you leave me alone?'

The door handle to the shop rattled but George no longer heard it.

'Gin' Said Harry in a strained voice, his face flushed as he swallowed hard 'I think we should get back. Your parents will be getting suspicious.' She looked up at him and fluttered her eyelids 'Really?' she replied in a sweet tone while running her hands down his back.

Harry somehow managed to step back a little 'I'd just prefer that we appear back in the room rather than have you mother find us here.' He looked her in the face to see a pout from his girlfriend which he noted, made her look devastatingly cute as his knees started to go weak again.

She smiled without too much humour, 'Okay I suppose we'd better go back.' and she turned to the door 'Erm Gin?' said Harry tentatively putting hand on her shoulder. His touch electrified her and she gave a small shudder before replying 'Yes' thinking it was a good idea that Harry couldn't see the huge grin on her face. 'What was this about?'

She tuned on the spot to face him and gave him a very knowing look. 'You need to ask, after that kiss?' she challenged

'Oh' said Harry, and started bushing as Ginny laughed at him.

'Poor, Poor Harry' she mocked gently 'there is no way that we would have got away with that with my mother in the room and I really wanted to get away with that.' she winked and Harry now laughed although his cheeks were still red.

They left the cupboard hand in hand, Ginny checking first to make sure the coast was clear. Before making there way back to the private ward.

Unknown to Harry or Ginny, Arthur stepped out from the office he'd jumped into quickly as the broom cupboard opened to let the youngsters out. He smiled to himself after the conversation that he'd over heard, glad that his fears that Ginny was going off into a mood with Harry were unfounded and in fact quite the opposite.

To allay suspicion he waited a decent period of time before entering the private ward only to hear Hermione berating someone. He rolled his eyes and stepped through the doorway to find it was the minister himself who was the focus.

'Really Kingsley!' Exclaimed Hermione, 'Didn't you proof read this?' Kingsley held up his hands to try and placate her. 'I was in a rush to get it ready for you four to review. The attack generated a lot of interest with the press and I was hoping that this statement might give us a bit of time to work out what is going on with the Goblins before the prophet starts digging around.'

Hermione backed off a little but still came back with 'That's as maybe, but you should try reading it out loud next time. This sentence lasts for eight lines! No one could manage that in one breath'

Gawain had a smirk on his face at his bosses obvious discomfort at being told off by a young girl and so really wasn't expecting it when she also rounded on him.

'And Gawain?' the smirk dropped, along with his chin. As she added sweetly 'Please can you let your Aurors know that punctuation has it's place, but that place shouldn't be sprinkled like Stars across the parchment. Honestly I think I some sections were more like a join-the-dot drawing than a paragraph of writing.'

Gawain decided that, discretion being the better part of valour, he would just keep quiet and nod in the hope that it would keep him from more embarrassment.

'So its broadly okay then?' asked Harry who had willingly turned the actual review of the statement over Hermione as soon as had read the first few lines much to Ron's relief as he had also viewed the task with obvious distaste.

'Yes' she replied brightly 'everything we wanted to say is in here, no mention of Horcruxes and Snape gets a generous write-up.' she paused 'All I need to do now' casting glances at the wizards in question 'is properly punctuate this and it can go.'

'Right then' Said Kingsley still slightly embarrassed 'I guess we'd better leave you to get some rest.' and he rose along with Gawain. 'I'll await your reviewed copy then Hermione' and the two wizards left to sound of scratching of quill on parchment. Hermione barely looked up as she worked away on the editing.

Molly stood up as well 'Right' she said decisively 'time for us to go home for the night as well.' Arthur turned to his son. 'Ron, as soon as we know you're being discharged, I'll come and collect the two of you.' Before Ron could reply Hermione jumped in 'Thank you Arthur.'

Ginny, whose curiosity had been piqued during the previous exchange, asked 'Was the writing really that bad?'

Hermione continued to frown at the parchment but replied 'Worse', She paused to look fondly at her boyfriend 'I thought it was just Ron but it appears to most wizards only have a passing understanding of the the rules of grammar and their writing is atrocious.' She looked thoughtfully at them 'But Harry's isn't so bad.'

Arthur looked a little embarrassed before saying 'Wizards tend to home school until Hogwarts in England and it's true through most countries with large wizard communities. It makes it easier to keep the wizard world secret.'

Molly added 'But the problem is that because we have the magic, the other subjects tend to end up being neglected. It's one area that the muggle born have traditionally been better at. I'm glad you're here to sort it out rather than Ron'

'Mum' he complained plaintively.

'Mum nothing Ronald. You were always more interested in brooms than quills. Percy was the only one of you boys to really work on his writing skills and Ginny took after me' Ginny looked a touch smug .'Luckily' Molly added, to Ginny's annoyance. 'Anyway we will see you tomorrow.' and the rest of the group left the room heading for the exits so they could apparate back to Burrow.

There was a flash and a distant echo of 'Imperio' before Bogrod felt a calmness overcome him. For the first time in weeks he felt at peace as he waited. A string of instructions followed. Instructions that made perfect sense to Bogrod, even though they weren't his own thoughts. A small part of him in a distant part of his brain screamed defiance once more but he couldn't help himself as he took the parchment slips and quietly left the room for Gringotts. The Brothers watched him go one in satisfaction and the other with a sense of relief.


	10. Chapter 10

The time passed quickly that week. Before any of them knew it was the day before the Hogwarts Express was scheduled to leave.

It was the last day of August, and Mrs Weasley was busy cooking an amazing feast, since it was Ginny's and Hermione's last night home. The next morning she would go back to Hogwarts for her final year. Bill and Fleur had arrived early, and as soon as they entered the front door they were put to work – which was exactly the thing that the three teenagers hiding up in Ron's room were trying to avoid. George, who had moved back to the flat above the shop in London, had probably predicted what would happen if he'd show his face in the kitchen before dinner was ready, because he hadn't shown up yet. Mrs Weasley had started casting a glance at the clock every now and then, worrying that he might miss dinner completely. She knew that he was struggling, and the thought of him being alone in that empty apartment almost broke her heart.

She expected Mr Weasley, Percy and Audrey to get back from their work at the Ministry at seven o'clock sharp, and she planned to have everything ready by then. Much to Mrs Weasley's content, Percy and Audrey had announced that they were now more than just friends, which automatically made Audrey a regular dinner guest on the same level as any of the Weasley children.

"Hermione's family is coming," said Ginny, who was sitting in Ron's bed with her face pressed against the window.

The words barely had time to leave her mouth before Ron had jumped to his feet and practically thrown himself out through the door and down the stairs to meet Hermione. Ginny laughed.

"You'd think that it's been two years since he saw her, rather than two days," she said.

Harry, who had been lying on his back in his bed, got up on his feet as well, walked over to her and sat down next to her.

"I can understand that," he said, reached out his arms and pulled her close to him. "Every moment that you're not with me feels like an eternity."

Ginny grinned. "Wow, did you steal that line from Ron's book on how to charm witches? Because it sucked!"

Harry laughed and started tickling her until she begged for mercy. "I meant it, you know," he then told her."

"I wish you would come with me to Hogwarts," Ginny said, leaning her head against his chest. "We could go to classes together, as we would be in the same year… play quidditch together – if you'd make the team, that is," she teased him and grinned when his eyes narrowed. "We'd have every day to be together."

Harry smiled and kissed her cheek. "You're making me doubt my decision, Ginny."

"Great," she answered. "I mean, sure, you already told McGonnagall you weren't coming back this year… but you are Harry Potter. She just can't turn you down." Ginny turned around so that they were facing each other. "And it would give us the chance to do this a lot more…"

She leaned in and kissed him while wrapping both her arms around his neck. Harry could feel his pulse increase while he pressed himself towards her. He tried to memorize every detail of what he was feeling in that moment – her soft hair between his fingers, her lips against his and the warmth of her body, streaming over to his.

"He…"

Hermione, who had just reached Ron's bedroom, interrupted herself when she realized what was going on in there.

"Potter!" Ron hade caught up with Hermione, and the sound of his voice made Ginny and Harry jump and let go of each other. "I've been very accepting when it comes to the two of you, but this?" Ron's frowning face reddened to the point where it matched the colour of his hair as he made a gesture towards them. "Snogging my little sister in my bed?"

"Oh, Ron!"

Ginny rolled her eyes and shook her head. Then, ignoring the angry look on her brother's face, she walked past him and gave Hermione a hug.

"Hello. How are you feeling about tomorrow?"

"I'm a little torn," Hermione answered. "I'm glad you'll be with me. And I'm excited to meet everyone again – those that will actually come back, that is…" She glanced over at Ron, and Ginny's eyes automatically turned to Harry.

"I know," she said.

"Mum says we should come down," Ron said. "George is finally here, and the others are on their way. And you two obviously can't handle being left alone up here. Come on."

He shot a long look at Harry before grabbing Ginny's arm and starting to drag her down the stairs. Harry and Hermione exchanged a look and laughed before they followed them.

The kitchen was now crowded with people. George was standing just inside the door, showing off some article from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes to Mr and Mrs Granger, who seemed both fascinated and delighted judged by their exclamations and avid questions. Fleur was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, her arms crossed over her stomach, with an uncomfortable look on her face, as if she really just wanted to get up and leave. Bill and Mrs Weasley were busy moving all the food from the stove to the long table, using their wands. At the very same moment that Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione entered the kitchen, the front door opened and Mr Weasley, Percy and Audrey stepped inside. All three of them were smiling widely.

"Wow, it smells amazing in here!" said Audrey as she hung her purse on the coat hanger inside the door.

"Terrific. Everyone's here," said Mrs Weasley. "Let's dig right in then, shall we?"

Everyone sat down at the table and began loading their plates with colossal piles of Mrs Weasley's delicious food. "It's just like being back at Hogwarts," said Percy contently as he filled his cup – which appeared to have been silver coloured once – with pumpkin juice. After all the plates were filled, Mr Weasley rose to his feet to make a toast.

"First of all, to my beautiful wife, for cooking such a lovely dinner for us," he said and gave Mrs Weasley a tender smile. "Secondly, to Ginny and Hermione, who are leaving for Hogwarts in the morning. And to… to the fact that the war is over! So perhaps to you then, Harry?"

George grinned and raised his cup. "To mum, Ginny, Hermione and Harry!"

The others joined in, and a ringing sound filled the room as they bumped their glasses together. At the other end of the table, Mrs Weasley gasped loudly and put her cup down so quickly that its content nearly spilled over the edge. She put her hand over her daughter-in-law's and said in shock:

"Fleur, you're not eating! What's wrong?"

"Oh," said Fleur. "Eet is a magnifique dinner, I just…"

The scratching of Bill's chair against the floor as he stood up interrupted her. He smiled at her and let his gaze wander between the confused faces that stared back at him.

"There is something else," he said, "that we should toast for tonight. We weren't going to tell yet, because it's so early… but I just wanted to do this before you leave for school. Fleur is pregnant. We're having a baby!"

The buzz of voices, the sound of the little wheels of suitcases against asphalt and trains passing by filled the air around King's Cross Station. There were people everywhere – the people flow that occurred every year on the first day of September had always baffled the Muggles working there. Harry was pushing a trolley carrying Ginny's bags in forwards, zig-zagging though the crowd on his way towards platform 9 and 10. Ginnys was walking closely behind him. Her father's arm rested around her shoulder. He was trying to comfort her, as she had just said goodbye to the rest of the family – except for Mrs Weasley, Ron and Hermione – and her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

Hermione and Ron had stopped between platform 9 and 10, just next to the brick wall that lead into platform 9 ¾. Realizing that the others had caught up with them, they took each other's hands and started running straight towards the wall. In the next moment, they had disappeared. Harry followed them, and Ginny and her parents came closely behind. It was an amazing feeling, running through that wall and getting onto the platform. The first thing that met them on the other side was the magnificent, red steam train that would soon head off the first place that Harry had ever called his home. The brick wall was a passage between the Muggle and Wizarding world, and the people, who had tried their best to be discrete as they passed through the Muggle part of the station, hoping to blend in, had started to relax and let their guards down. Many of them wore traditional wizard clothing – robes and mantles in different colours and hats that would have attract a lot of attention on the other side of the wall. The hoots of owls, the flapping of wings and loud voices filled the atmosphere. Even the smell was different on this side – it was a mixture of fresh parchment, train fumes, a sweet candy aroma and something else, something undetectable. Perhaps it was the smell of magic.

A voice called: "That's Harry Potter!" It was followed by a few more voices, and then, suddenly, everyone on the platform fell silent. The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione stopped, and it was then that Harry realized that Mr Weasley had stuck his hand in his pocket, ready to pull out his wand. Harry knew what he must have been thinking. Now that the protection around Harry had lowered, they had all been seeing Death Eaters around. They had of course contacted the ministry when they saw them but by then they had disappeared. Harry had wanted for them to duel but everyone knew that the Death Eaters would be getting what they wanted if Harry did duel with them.

Was it possible that someone had found out that Harry was coming to the platform that day? Would they really take the risk of attacking him in front of all those people? Just in case, Harry moved his hand closer to the inside pocket of his jacket, in which he kept his wand, and looked around. Most people had stopped moving and were turned towards him, staring shamelessly at him and the small group of people he had come with.

"Harry!"

A happy voice broke the silence, and when Harry turned his head to locate it he realized that Neville Longbottom was squeezing himself through the crowd of people, heading towards him. When he reached them he gave Harry a friendly hug before turning to Ginny, Hermione and Ron to do the same thing.

"I had no idea you were all coming back this year!" he said cheerfully.

"Oh, sorry, Neville," Ron said. "Harry and I are just here to see the girls off."

"Oh, okay." Neville looked disappointed, but then he smiled at Ginny and Hermione. "Have you seen Luna? She's coming back too, isn't she?"

"I thought you would know, if anyone," Harry said with a quizzical smile on his face, but Neville shrugged and shook his head.

"She hasn't been answering my letters," he said. Harry couldn't help but wonder if he realized that everyone on the entire platform listened to every word they said.

"So, you're repeating your seventh year, Neville?" asked Hermione

"They barely taught us anything last year, to be honest," Neville answered. "And my grandmother says I shouldn't appreciate the value of good education, even if it means I have to go to school for eight years."

Since the minute hand had moved closer to the twelve of the large clock on the wall, people began talking again. Harry felt something pull his sleeve, and he jumped before he realized it was just a little girl standing next to him. She didn't look a day over six, and she was staring at him, her eyes widened as she smiled shyly. Harry smiled back at her, not knowing what else to do.

"You're my hero!" the girl said and proceeded to wrap her arms around Harry's legs.

"Ella!" A woman rushed over to them, and she bent down to pry the girl off of Harry. "Ella, don't ever run away from mummy like that again, do you hear me? I'm so…" She interrupted herself when she straightened up and realized exactly whose legs her daughter had clung onto, "… sorry."

"It's fine," Harry said.

After Ella had glanced beseechingly at him for a while, Harry agreed to take a photo with the two of them. Then, he turned towards the people he was actually there for. Mrs Weasley was close to crushing Ginny's rib in one of her infamous, tight embraces, and Hermione reached her arms out towards Harry.

"It's going to be so strange to be there without you," she said.

"It's school," Harry smiled, and hugged her. "If I know you right you won't be suffering."

Hermione laughed. "Perhaps not," she said, "but I'll still miss you. Promise me you'll write. And make Ron write a few letters too. It's fine by me if you have to threaten him."

"I'm sure I won't have to," Harry said. "He's madly in love with you, remember?"

He smiled as his gaze wandered over to Ginny involuntarily. She had managed to free herself from her mother's arms. Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione beat him to it.

"I know. I'll look after her."

She smiled at him once more before turning to Ron. A few seconds later, Harry was attacked by Ginny who threw her arms around him and pressed her lips against his. Harry could hear Mr Weasley clear his throat and someone wolf-whistling before he had tuned out the world and was alone with Ginny. He could feel a wave of sadness coming towards him, ready to wash over him, but he pushed it away. He wouldn't allow himself to feel it until the train had left. The sound of the steam whistle broke into their bubble and they ended the kiss without letting go of each other.

"Be safe," Harry said.

"I'm the one who should tell you that," Ginny said. "You're the one who's always in some sort of trouble. I know you have a habit of getting yourself into life-threatening situations, but how about you try to avoid that this year?"

Harry smiled. "I'll try."

The steam whistle blew again. "Ginny," Hermione said. "We have to go."

"I know." Ginny pressed her cheek against Harry's one last time. "I love you."

"I love you too."

They reluctantly let go of each other. Ginny and Hermione got on the train. It didn't take long before they had taken place in a compartment with Neville and Luna all four of them looked out the window and waved, and those standing at the platform waved back at them. Harry's eyes were fixed on Ginny's face, as if he was worried he might forget what she looked like. Then the clock struck eleven, and the train started moving. A few moments later it had left King's Cross Station, Harry and Ron behind.

The two men smiled mischeviously as they apperated back to the Burrow to get their own trunks ready as they were going to apperate to Hogwarts's gates in a few hours.

Hermione and Ginny had an Okay ride to Hogwarts but it wasn't the same without Harry and Ron.

Harry and Ron apperated to the Hogwarts gates after they were sure that all the students would be inside the grounds by then. When they appeared Harry smiled and simply tapped his wand against the gates which opened soundlessly. They hurried to drop off their trunks in the room they would be staying in then hurried to the closed doors of the Great Hall.

Inside the closed doors Professor McGonagall sat with a unusual smile upon her face. Ginny and Hermione did notice this unlike their friends "I wonder what she's so happy about?" Muttered Hermione. Ginny also asked "I wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor is. I hear that there are two of them this year."

No one knew who the new Professors were and when the Headmistress stood up they all silented instantly awaiting the news

McGonagall was not able to keep the excitement out of her voice as she said "First, I would like to remind everyone the the Forest is off limits. Now for the news you have all surly been waiting for. We have two fine young men joining our staff today. And please do not bombard them with questions when you see who they are. As our two new Defense Against The Dark Arts Professors and former students, please welcome Mr. Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley."

At these words The Great Hall doors opened as Harry and Ron walked into the Hall. Whispers broke out among many of the student. Harry and Hermione were not among them. They had feelings which were mixed: They were furious and happy at the same time at their boyfriends. Their classmates all turned to the two of them then smiled at knowing that this was a huge surprise to the two woman.

Harry and Ron reached their former Professor quickly. The three of them struggled to keep a straight face before they decided that it was not worth it. Harry, Ron, and McGonagall burst into a fit of laughter which surprised many of the Professors and students as they had never seen their Professor laugh so hard before.

"It was surprisingly hard for me to keep the secret that you two were teaching at Hogwarts. You men are all the talk these days and everyone knowing about your knew Auror jobs just made it harder for me not to tell the truth. Well, Welcome to Hogwarts. You certainly are a fine addition to the staff." said McGonagall

Harry turned his attention to the now silent students "Well Thank you Professor but we can talk after these students have received their food. They certainly look hungry."

With a waive of her wand, McGonagall please much of the students and placed food on all of the tables. Harry and Ron took their seats next to the Headmistress at the staff table and began to fill their plates with food. After eating as much as they could (Which was not much since Mrs Weasley had made them eat before they left the Burrow) Harry and ROn turned to the New Headmistress "So" Harry began "This seemed to be an...er...odd surprise for much of the students."

The headmistress nodded and said "Two certain girls can't seem to take their eyes off of you. Seemed like the surprise effected those two the most"

Harry instantly froze hoping that it wasn't Romilda Vane. He looked over to where McGonagall had indicated and saw that it was Ginny and Hermione who she had indicated. They indeed was staring at him and Ron. Harry did not realize that they might be a bit mad at them for their special surprise.

Harry elbowed Ron and jerked his head in the direction of Hermione and Ginny. SLightly scared Harry turned to Professor McGonagall.

"Professor you wouldn't happen to know the reverse spell for Ginny's Bat bogey hex off the back of your hand would you?"

"Please Harry, call me Minerva and yes i do but i'll only cast it when i see either one of you screaming and being chased by bats." she responded

"I've never been on the receiving end of Ginny's wand Minerva, and I would've liked for it to stay that way." Confessed Harry

Later after the plates had been cleared and everyone had been sent off to bed Harry and Ron strolled the grounds.

"I have a weird feeling. Like someone is watching us." Said Harry.

They were heading back to the castle by then and were just in front of the steps leading to the castle doors when Harry heard someone call out his name

Harry spun around to see none other than Avery, one of the Death Eaters, standing a few yards in front of his, wand drawn out.


	11. Chapter 11

Ginny awoke with a odd feeling. Harry was in trouble. She just knew it. Hurridly she pulled on a sweater and jeans then quietly made her way over to the 7th years dormitory.

Finding Hermione's bed, She shook Hermione awake. "Hermione Harry is in trouble." she whispered. Hermione jerked awake and pulled on too a sweater and a pair of jeans. They tip toed out of the dormitory and down the tower steps.

"Well Potter. We meet again. The Dark Lord wanted you dead and we shall complete his wish." Avery growled

Harry and Ron drew out their wands. They had been secretly taking Auror lessons when they were supposed to be making a lesson plan for the coming school year so they had hoped it would be of use right now.

About 50 more Death Eaters came out from their hiding places. Harry tried to move father from the castle but Avery knew what he was trying to do "Trying to protect everyone again are you Potter? not going to happen. We shall duel here, now! Face us like a man!"

"How about to be fair i take half of you blokes and Harry takes the other half. Agreed?" Ron said determendly

"It's the least we can do since we will kill you tonight." Said Avery.

The Death Eaters divided into two groups and the dueling began.

Harry and Ron was doing well. Avery had another thought "Why don't we get Granger out here too. Finish the golden trio all at once." Avery casted a spell that made a loud bang but had not harmed Harry at all.

With a glance up at the castle Harry saw lights turn on in dorms and bedrooms. _It's only our first day. How hard will this get? We can't keep this up for long_ Harry thought before casting a few more spells that sent 5 Death Eaters flying.

Hermione and Ginny had heard the bang and saw other students starting to file out into the hall. At this sight they moved faster to the grounds of the school.

The sight they saw was nothing like what they had imagined. As the students came out of the doors they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Harry and Ron had their backs against each other and were dueling about 25 Death Eaters at a time. The Professors too came outside wondering what all the commotion was. The new Headmistress was shocked when she saw what was happening. Avery saw the students coming out and said "Well Potter, they came to watch a duel. And look Weasley and Granger are in the front. Let us give them a real sight. I wonder if Weasley or Granger ever faced death?"

Avery shot a killing spell to Ginny who did not have time to grab her wand in the rush. Seeing this Harry ran in front of the crowd and said " _Protego_!" A shimmering blue shield he had imagined in his mind became reality and the killing spell bounced off of the shield and rebounded. It hit Avery instead. Seeing as their 'new leader' was now dead, all the Death Eaters seemed lost.

Taking this chance Harry and Ron stunned most of the remaining Death Eaters only a few managed to escape. Breathless, Harry and Ron turned back to the castle doors which were now wide open. All the students were silent along with the Professors. Ginny and Hermione were in the front staring at their boyfriends. Professor McGonagall broke the silence "That was an interesting sight. Harry, Ron can you please come to my office now. Granger and Weasley too."

All eyes tore away from Harry and Ron and turned to Ginny and Hermione. Hermione and Ginny hurried after their boyfriends who were already entering the castle along with McGonagall.

The professors got everyone back to their common rooms but it didn't stop everyone from staying in their common rooms talking about what they had just seen.

"Those were Death Eaters. Harry and Ron work as Aurors now and they did not intend for their enemies to show up so soon. The minister of Magic, Kingsley, is a personal friend of Harry and Ron so we shall all go to bed now knowing that our Professors took care of everything and that our ministers trust is in these certain Professors." Announced Neville. HE made his way to his bed and quickly fell asleep.

Once they had reached the Headmistress's office, Harry blurted out "Look Minerva, we never thought that they would show up so soon. I personally thought that after a few days or weeks then it would happen. Never so suddenly. Minerva-"

Ginny looked at him with a surprised look "Minerva? Since when do you call the new Headmistress of your former school by her first name? And you knew that they would show up sooner or later?"

"I called her that because she asked me to. And of course we knew. But we thought that no one knew that we were teaching at Hogwarts yet. They had obviously planned this. Minerva, Avery's body needs to be moved and we will need help moving the stunned Death Eaters to Azkaban in wait of their trials. Can you please contact Kingsley and tell him to come ASAP. We need to have a talk with these two ladies also." retorted Harry

"Well i shall do as i am told. I do not like to disobey Aurors. Good job Harry and Ron. And don't keep these two women out of bed too late they do have classes to attend to tomorrow. And so do you!" Smiled McGonagall

"We won't Minerva and thank you." Said Ron. Harry and Ron left the office and headed for their own rooms with Ginny and Hermione following close behind.

When they reached Harry and Ron sat down on their seperate beds. The two women stood in the doorway staring at them.

"How could you not tell us? And Minerva really Harry? And since when does she call you by your first name?" Scolded Ginny

Harry sighed "Drop it Gin, in case you didn't realize we just fought at least 25 death eaters each. I also saved you from being hit with a killing curse. In addition to that Ron and I have to write a report for Gawain- the head Auror- on what happened just now, help move all the death eaters to Azkaban and teach our class tomorrow. We don't really have that much energy to spare arguing with you."

"Then why did you say that you needed to talk to us?" Asked Hermione who was glaring at Ron

"We wanted to tell you that we are only here to be closer to you. That and Kingsley thought that many of the death eaters would come out of hiding when they found out Harry's location. We kept it as a surprise that we were going to give to you. And stop glaring at me Hermione i didn't do anything wrong. Only my job. Shouldn't you be happy? You get to be closer to us for your last year. What is the problem with that?" Explained Ron

Hermione went to go sit next to her boyfriend "Nothing. Are you sure that you're OK Ron?"

Ron smiled "We're fine 'Mione. We just wasn't prepared yet."

"What do you mean?" Asked Ginny who was still standing in the door way.

Harry sent a look to Ron then said "Thanks alot Ron. We weren't supposed to tell anyone. What he's trying to say is that we aren't required to take the three years of Auror training but only a few days. Mostly to get us prepared for when the death eaters did show up. We were supposed to read a book that Gawain suggested when we got back from walking around the grounds. Guess we won't need to now though." He and Ron grinned

"Why don't we escort you ladies to the common room. Special services only for you." suggested Harry.

Hermione and Ron agreed and left the room leaving Harry and Ginny alone. "Ginny what's wrong? What did i do?" Harry asked her

"Nothing. I just- I wanted to thank you for saving me." she said.

Harry got up from his seat and walked over to Ginny who took his arm. Together they made their way to the common room and Harry said the password "Potter"

They climbed into the room and was surprised to find it empty.

"I guess you should go to bed. Minerva wouldn't approve of you being up so late." Said Harry

Ginny pulled his close and kissed him. When they broke apart she mumbled "What about you? _Professor?_ "

Harry smiled "I have **special** privilliges. I should go to my office anyway. Kingsley is probably waiting for me. Go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."

The moment he left the room students jumped out of their hiding places from all around Ginny. They all asked her questions "You two are dating?" 'THE Harry Potter is your boyfriend?" "Mrs. Ginny Potter?". Ginny yelled at them "Go to bed. You all have classes tomorrow. You can all question Harry tomorrow when you have his class. Now off you go." Ginny secretly smiled to herself as she slipped into the warm feel of her bed.

The next morning Harry awoke suddenly as someone banged loudly on the door. Harry opened the door after pulling on a t shirt and some shorts to reveal a happy looking Minister. "Harry! Sorry to wake you but we need your help moving some of the death eaters to the ministry. You and Ron managed to stun most of them and i will, in return to waking you up so early, stay and help you out with your class. Deal? Great now come on my boy."

Kingsley and Harry walked quickly to the grounds where the small battle had token place the previous night. "So how are we getting them there?" Harry asked

"All you need to do is grab their wrist and Apperate to the ministy. Some wizards will be there to escort our little friends here to Azkaban."

By the time some students had woken up and came down to the grounds, Harry and his new Co-workers had managed to clear the fields. Other than the Aurors and The minister of magic there it looked like nothing had happened at all.

When breakfast came around Harry and Ron sat at the staff table. Harry stood up which made the hall go quiet "Professor McGonagall had asked me to inform you that she is very sorry that she could not make it for breakfast. She is currently in a meeting with ...I mean the minister of magic. She will however be attending her class."

Talk broke out all debating about weather Harry had a personal friendship with their minister. Harry got up from his seat and headed over to the Grifindor table "I have your schedules in which Minerva asked me to pass out."

Adter passing out the schedules Harry and Ton left for their first class, double class of Slytherin and Gryfindor.

"Hello everyone. I'm sure that you all know me and Ron. We have a special guest here who is repaying is for a favor. Please welcome Kingsley..er..i mean the minister of magic." Exclaimed Harry


End file.
